Vampire On A Leash
by The Demonic Ninjas 3
Summary: AU Tenten discovers that Neji is a vampire. Can she hide this secret from her best friend Sakura, a vampire slayer, and at the same time suppress Neji's vampiric instincts? Or will Tenten just open a whole new can of worms? NejiTen, SasuSakuSai...
1. The Disappearance of the Hyuuga

**Vampire on a Leash**

**Chapter 1: The Disappearance of the Hyuuga**

**By: The Demonic Ninjas 3**

**Summary** AU Tenten discovers that Neji is a vampire. Can she hide this secret from her best friend Sakura, a vampire slayer, and at the same time suppress Neji's vampire instincts? NejiTen, SaskuSaku, NaruHinaKiba, ItaKure

**Author's Note:** YAY! Another Vampire story by me! Hope you guys like it!

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_Walking in the Darkness,_

_I feel the loneliness devouring me._

_Fear attempting to grasp me._

_A chill crosses my body._

_Teeth sink into my neck._

_I feel the pain._

_Red-eyes glare at me._

_All I see is the Darkness._

_And that is all I remember of about my mortal Life._

---------------------

A violently strong hand snatched a cordless phone and began to dial a number.

"RING RING RING RING RING, Hello you have reached the number of Hyuuga Neji, team Captain of Japan's National Soccer Team. If you are a fangirl, please hang up. If you have something important to say besides I love you, please leave a message after the tone, Thank you. BEEP"

"NEJI!" yelled the speaker, "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST WEEK! I've called you for almost every hour. Hinata says you haven't been home and Lee hasn't even seen you during soccer practice! SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU **TRYING** TO HIDE FROM ME?! Damn It Neji! I'm gonna – **BEEP**!"

At that exact moment the answering machine cut the speraker off. "Stupid answering machine.." muttered the brunette as she slammed the phone back onto its receiver. The girl lay her head on her hand as she stared out the window.

Suddenly the girl jumped out of her seat, grabbed her purse and ran out the door. "I'm going shopping!" yelled the brunette to no one in particular as she slammed the door. She surely proves that women tend to use shopping to make them happy.

As the girl slammed the door, a letter fell out from its hiding place. It read "_To Tenten"…_

-------------------

Tenten entered the mall. It was gigantic and was filled with every kind of retail store one would need. Then again, Tenten wasn't a shopoholic. She just decided to go shopping to take a breather.

Scanning her surroundings, a pink blob caught her eye – Sakura.

"Oi! Sakura-chan!"

"The pink-haired girl spun around and a smile sprang upon her face as she saw her best friend run towards her, "Oh my Gosh! Tenten! Guess what! I passed the slayers exam!"

"A little obvious," smirked the brunette as she began to take in Sakura's new appearance. Her normal red clothing was replaced with black leather attire. At the same time she wore trench coat that bore the slayer logo, _ASS_, Association of Supernatural Slayers. On top of everything of course was the traditional crucifix that hung on a silver chain around her neck. The brunette noticed that Sakura was standing slightly unbalanced; she began wondering about what was underneath the slayers trench coat.

"Nice, now you're a member of ASS. You must be proud."

"Tenten, don't start that again."

"What! You should be proud to be part of the club for people with big asses"

"Tenten…"

"Or maybe it's for people who are ass-holes…"

"Tenten!"

"ok, ok, I'll stop. I was going to check out some new shoes. Want to come?

"Sure"

The duo crossed one of the most popular stores when something caught Sakura's eye, "KAWAII!" In a flash Sakura was in the store while Tenten stood there for few minutes before fully understanding what had caught Sakura's eye – pink boots. The brunette sighed as she stepped into the store. Maybe she should have stayed home and baked a cake or something. By the time Tenten was in the store Sakura was already trying out the shoes to see if they fit and at the same time, flirting with the sales personnel.

"Oh Tenten, don't they just look great on me!"

"Ya, sure, it totally matches your uniform."

"You think so too?! They look so pretty!"

"I was being sarcastic."

"Tenten stop being so mean."

"But I personally think that if you're going to wear something to match your uniform you should try hiking boots. Watcha gonna do? Intimidate a vampire with pink boots? …Actually it might work…"

A tense atmosphere began to build as the two girls began throwing mental daggers at each other.

"A-ano, Tenten-chan? Sakura-chan?..."

The two mentioned spun around and quickly, their former feelings had evaporated. In front of them stood their violet haired friend – Hinata.

"Eh? Konichiwa Hinata-chan" saluted Sakura

Hinata nodded, "A-ano, what a-are you guys d-doing here?"

"Oh, I was bored because stupid Neji hadn't replied any of my phone calls yet. IT'S BEEN A WEEK! DAMMIT! Have you seen Neji recently?"

Hinata shook her head.

"-sigh- stupid Neji. Wait… What ARE you doing here?"

"I-I…" stammered Hinata as a blush slowly creeped up her face.

"Oi! Hinata-chan!" yelled a blonde boy

"Oh, I see" smirked Sakura

The blonde boy ran up to Hinata, "Hinata-chan why did you run off without telling me?"

"G-gomen N-naruto-kun. I-I just s-saw Tenten-chan and S-Sakura-chan and I saw that you were at the ramen stall, s-so I d-decided to v-visit them." Apologised Hinata.

"Oh, that's alright," smiled Naruto sincerely as his baby blue-eyes locked with Hinata's pearl white eyes.

After a series of double dates with Neji and Tenten, the Hyuuga prodigy finally permitted his cousin to date Naruto. It had been one month since the final double date had occurred, however it appeared certain that if anything were ever to go slightly wrong, Neji would beat the daylights out of Naruto.

"Guess what guys?! I passed the slayers exam!" exclaimed Sakura but only to receive a punch on the head from Tenten. "You just broke a romantic moment" hissed Tenten.

"Oh whatever, hey you guys have anything to do today?"

The couples shook their heads.

"Sweet! Then how 'bout the four of us crash at the mall today!" exclaimed the excited slayer.

Hinata smiled sweetly and nodded.

"Sweet idea Sakura-chan!" exclaimed Naruto; so loudly that it attracted a few on lookers.

"Hey, when you say the four of us, that includes me, right?" questioned Tenten.

"No, I was talking about my imaginary friend here. Ohmigosh, I forgot to introduce him to you. Takumi meet my friends. Friends meet Takumi" stated Sakura sarcastically as she pointed to the air beside her.

"I don't see Takumi! What does he look like!". Naruto looked absolutely horrified.

Tenten rolled her eyes, "It's called IMAGINARY friend."

"Oh…I knew that…" replied Naruto sheepishly. Hinata giggled and whispered something into his ear.

"Great idea Hinata! Hey guys, Hinata suggested that we go watch "_When A Stranger Calls" (a/n: It's a recent movie, horror movie. And I do not own that title aka DISCLAIMER!)_"

"Meh, no difference to me. As long as it's not a sappy romance movie." Replied Tenten

"Sure, ok let's go!" exclaimed Sakura as she grabbed the two girls and ran towards the nearest movie theatre and making Naruto trail behind.

-----------------------------

"Man, that was a killer day, wasn't it Hinata?" Tenten pretended to wipe sweat from her forehead.

While watching "_When a Stranger Calls"_, Tenten had jumped out of her seat and had screamed at the top of her lungs, only to have Sakura stuff her mouth with popcorn and pull her back into her seat. After stomping out of the theatre, Tenten added horror movies to the 'what-not-to-watch movies' which included the sappy romance movies she utterly despised.

Following the movie, the girls went on a shopping spree until the mall closing hours arrived, therefore leaving Naurto to carry all the goods.

"WHY DO I HAVE TO CARRY ALL OF THESE STUFF!" yelled Naruto who was carrying about 5 bags of shoes, clothing and accessories on either arm.

"Well you see, Neji isn't here, and if he was, he would have joined you in your torture. However he hasn't been on ANYONE'S radar for the past week so you'll have to rake in double the pain. So sorry Naruto, there's no easy way out of this." Stated Tenten in a very sadistic manner as she whipped a shopping bag around his neck.

"…not fair…I feel like a clothes hanger"

"I-I c-can h-help y-you N-naruto-kun" Hinata began to play with her fingers as she stood beside her boyfriend, feeling guilty that she could not help relieve his pain.

"That's alright Hinata, I-I can survive" said Naruto as he smiled weakly.

"Ok girls! Snap your heels and let's start heading towards the infamous 'Karaoke R Us" exclaimed Sakura as she grabbed her two friends once again, leaving Naruto to, yet again, trudge unwillingly behind them

Karaoke had been the normal scene, the four friends sang, ate and talked, well besides the occasion 'out-time' that Naruto and Tenten took when they needed to vomit as a result of a surplus of beer consumption.

Fast-forward to when Tenten was complaining about the hectic day. She had finally sobered up and was walking Hinata back to her apartment. The brunette sighed as she stared at the door of the opposite apartment from Hinata's, also known as the Prestigious Hyuuga Neji's apartment!

Tenten sighed, "I think I'll go clean up Neji's apartment; it's probably a mess in there."

Hinata smiled, "o-ok, b-but i-if there's a-anything wrong, tell me."

Tenten nodded as she searched for Neji's apartment keys in her purse. "Ah ha! Found it!" and she unlocked the door.

The room was dark – eerily dark. There was mumbling noises in the background … wait was it the TV? Suddenly the television screen caught her attention. It was playing a movie… "_The Others"._ There was someone else in the room…in front of the television… a dark being…

Tenten ran towards the light switch to turn on the lights when suddenly, a pair of ice cold arms grabbed her waist and made her immobile. The girl saw a bowl of popcorn in the hands of her predator but of course she was too frightened to say any sarcastic remarks.

"I missed you Tenten." Said a cold and icy voice.

Tenten yelped as she stomped on her predator's foot, elbowed his stomach, battered their hands and did a judo flip so that they were on the floor. She then grabbed an umbrella from the umbrella stand and was about to smack the person when she suddenly recognised him.

"NEJI?!"

----End of Chapter----

Ok the first chapter is FINALLY complete! Yahoo! Ok, so did you guys like it? Should I continue? What do you guys think of it? Ok I'll update at 10 reviews ok? That's my goal. So ya, **READ & REVIEW! **and thanks for reading ;)


	2. Tell it as it is

**Vampire On a Leash**

**Chapter 2: Tell it as it is**

**By: The Demonic Ninjas 3**

**Summary AU** Tenten discovers that Neji is a vampire. Can she hide this secret from her best friend Sakura, a vampire slayer, and at the same time suppress Neji's vampire instincts? Or will she just open a whole new can of worms? NejiTen, SasuSaku, NaruHinaKiba, ItaKure

**Pairings:** Neji X Tenten, Sasuke X Sakura, Naruto X Hinata X Kiba, Itachi X Kurenai, OC X OC … more to come …

**Author's Notes:** OMG! I can't believe I got over 20 reviews in my first chapter! AH! That is a first for me lol. Thanks for all the support! Love all my reviewers! I'm very sorry for not updating sooner, even though I promised I would. Gomen. I was just so busy that I couldn't even type a sentence. I know that's a lame excuse –sigh-, but hey I've got a BETA reader! BanZai! Anyways let's continue the story…

* * *

Recap

"I missed you Tenten." Said a cold and icy voice.

Tenten yelped as she stomped on her predator's foot, elbowed his stomach, battered their hands and did a judo flip so they were both on the floor. She grabbed an umbrella from the umbrella stand and was about to smack the person when she suddenly recognised him.

"NEJI?!"

* * *

"Well, someone has improved their marital arts skills while I was gone" Neji stated as he slowly got up from his hold on the floor. Tenten was a martial arts sensei at the local dojo. She had already received a black belt in karate, judo, tai-kwon-do, and kendo. She was well-known for her accurate blows in the most vulnerable areas.

The stoic man looked unscathed from his girlfriend's attacks; he had no cuts, bruises, or scrapes and didn't even sound breathless. Tenten stared at Neji in disbelief. She was stunned by his sudden presence in his apartment.

"And there goes the perfect batch of popcorn" Neji sighed as he looked down on the floor, a look of disappointment crossing his face. The raven-haired man suddenly raised his eyes to say something to his girlfriend when the door suddenly flew open.

"Tenten-chan!" Hinata exclaimed as she came barging through the door, almost slamming into her cousin. "N-neji-ni-san?!" Hinata gasped in disbelief.

The mentioned lifted his perfect head, smiled and spoke in a casual manner, "Hinata, how are you tonight?"

His cousin could only give the pearl-eyed cousin a confused look before she turned around to her friend who appeared to still be in shock. "Tenten-chan, are you alright?"

Deep inside, the female Hyuuga really wanted to question her cousin first to see if he had been sent to a mental hospital and shipped back to his apartment minutes ago.

"It took me 20 bags of popcorn to pop this perfect batch. And now look at (your choice but "look what happened to it" seems more casual…but "look at" is more correct)what happened to it." A look of remorse flashed across Neji's face.

Suddenly, Tenten's already small ounce of patience was used up. She burst out, yelling at her boyfriend.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU THIS PAST WEEK?! You left me without saying a word. You didn't leave a message for anyone, not even Hinata, your cousin AND your neighbour. You didn't even bother telling anyone that something was wrong. You also didn't reply to my phone calls, emails or pages! And now I find you, in your apartment, watching a movie, having already popped 20 bags in which you are now mourning over the supposed 'perfect batch' of popcorn which _I _will most likely be labelled the culprit for destroying. And yet, you don't even try to state why you haven't contacted ANYONE for a whole week! Who do you think I am to you?!" Suddenly Tenten stopped her ranting as she noticed something peculiar. "… and what's with the funky teeth?"

"What fangs?" Neji attempted to be innocent of anything that could be wrong, however his response made him sound nervous, which was VERY unlike THE Hyuuga Neji. "I don't have no fangs…"

"N-neji-ni-san! You have fangs! … Don't tell me…" Hinata stammered. The girl suddenly felt faint and could barely keep herself standing with the help of the wall. With her quick reaction time, Tenten grabbed a mirror and crucifix and put it in front of Neji's face. "T-there's no reflection!" Tenten couldn't believe it. She turned around and found Neji on the other side of the room attempting to cover his eyes.

"Neji, are you a vampire?"

The raven-haired man looked at Tenten solemnly, not wanting to answer her question.

"Tell me the truth Neji; or I'll press this on your face and drench you with holy water!" The brunette threatened as she pulled out a bottle of Holy Water. _"I am sooooo glad Sakura-chan gave us a vampire protection prep talk during _K_araoke tonight."_ Thought Tenten as she remembered how Sakura kept of reminding her friends to always be alert since Sakura was a vampire slayer since the chances of Naruto, Hinata and Tenten being successfully attacked by blood sucking fiends had drastically increased because of Sakura's new occupation in the human society. But now, Sakura could protect her friends from these evil beings herself, which made becoming a slayer all the more rewarding.

Slowly Tenten saw her boyfriend nod, "I-I'm sorry Tenten, but …yes, I am a vamp-" before Neji could finish his sentence, Tenten grabbed her boyfriend and threw him onto a chair, strapping him to it with "Vampire Resistant Rope" –courtesy of Sakura.

"There we go" Tenten stood in front of Neji with her hands by her hips, proud at her fast reaction time. "Hinata-chan, would you mind closing the door and turning off that horrible movie?" The violet-haired girl nodded and complied with her friend's orders.

Tenten gave Neji a sadistic smile, "Now, let's begin our interrogation, my little vampire friend." Neji gave her a questioning look. "Little vampire?"

"Well, I AM five months older than you!"

Neji sighed. "You know I'm not going to hurt you. You really didn't need to confine me to a chair."

"It's a safety precautions" Tenten smiled as she pulled out her crucifix again, "Now answer my questions or else!"

Neji gave his girlfriend the oh-so-familiar "I-have-no-emotions" look, also known as, "you can't tell what he's thinking" and nodded in annoyance.

"Great! Now tell me what happened ever since you decided to disappear."

"I did not disappear voluntarily…"

"You were kidnapped!?"

"No… Why don't I just explain from the very beginning? It was Friday night…"

* * *

Friday Night on the streets near Tenten's House

"The students are really improving on their throws, aren't they?" smiled Neji, one of those rare smiles that only the closest people to Neji ever saw. Tenten nodded as she stared at the moon. It was a full moon, you know, the full moons with the red-orange hue.

"It's a gorgeous night, isn't it Neji? And there's only one more week left!" Tenten had this dreamy look on her face as the couple reached Tenten's door.

"A week until what?" A quizzical look crossed the Hyuuga's face.

"YOU DON'T REMEMBER!" Tenten gave her boyfriend a dark look.

"ummm…" Neji was now in the deep end of the pool of death. Desperately, Neji tried to figure out the answer to this puzzle as he felt the brunette glaring daggers at him.

"GAH! I should have known you'd forget! You're always like this!" A hurt look crossed Tenten's face and her voice began to crack as she spoke. "It's a week until the anniversary of our first date 6 years ago!"

Neji was appalled and horrified, "DAMN IT! How could I forget!" thought the Hyuuga, but appearance wise, he kept his cool. "Of course I knew that, I was just pretending and you fell for it" Neji wiped a tear from Tenten's cheek. He gave Tenten a sincere and convincing smile and kissed her cheek. "Now get a good night's sleep and I'll see you tomorrow alright?" The prodigy brushed Tenten's bangs away from her eyes and spun her around to push her into her house. The two whispered their 'good nights' and Neji left.

Neji was now walking home. The lights were dim, the moon was red, and the streets were empty. "What should I get Tenten …" thought the hopeless lavender-eyed man as he walked home, forgetting his surroundings and the dangers of walking alone at night…

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot up Neji's neck. Bewilderedly, he grabbed the being by his neck and tried to shake it off, but "it" would not let go. Darkness began to cloud Neji's vision as the futile battle to gain control of his body continued to be waged. Soon, the Hyuuga felt his arms and legs become lethargic…

The being that was at Neji's neck finally released its grip and watched as the body fell onto his arm. The predator sighed "Stupid mortals, I'm giving this idiot a gift and he's trying to beat me… How foolish." The being cracked its neck a few times and carried the body into the darkness as he disappeared into the shadows.

End of Flashback

* * *

Back at Neji's apartment

Tenten's eyes were full of pity, but as she saw Neji lift his head to look into her eyes and analyze her reaction; her pity dissipated .She became her curious and snappy self once more. "Well that only accounts for ONE night. Why were you gone for a WHOLE week?"

Neji smiled, noticing that Tenten still wasn't been very moved by his story. So he calmly answered her question. "Vampire Academy"

"Huh?"

* * *

Flashback # 2, At the Vampire Castle

"Let me review the basic principles in the awakening procedure" stated the vampire etiquette instructor as he paced back and forth across a dozen or so coffins with the "fresh vampires" in them. A tooth-pick hung from the edge of his mouth.

"One, you must remember to raise your body without touching the sides of your coffin. Two, listen to your surroundings by using your hearing skills. Then, open your eyes with alertness. Do you all understand?"

"Understood" replied the students in unison

The instructor sighed in as he watched the "baby vampires" attempting to perfect their awakening abilities_. "Can't believe Sasuke-sama set me in such a boring profession" he thought to himself. _Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a perky female vampire. "Genma-sensei am I doing this right?"

Genma turned his attention to the girl, _"hmmm…she's a quick learner isn't she"_ but his thoughts were interrupted yet again. From the corner of the dark room he heard one of the male vampires snickering as he mocked the female that Genma was complimenting in his head. With lightning quick reactions, Genma picked up a stake and whipped it at the male, purposely pinning him to the wall. Instantaneously, Genma remembered the events of two nights ago when the vampire was brought in, unconscious and well…dead. He had become a vampire after all…

* * *

The Night Before, Genma's Flashback

"Genma-san" The servant greeted the etiquette instructor as he ran into the room, bowed, and kneeled on the floor, "Sasuke-sama has returned from his hunt and has brought a new child with him"

Genma nodded and dismissed the vampire-sevant with a flick of his hand. The vampire instructor speed-walked his way to the audience room where Sasuke was waiting. Pushing open the giant slate door, the vampire instructor entered the room with his dignity intact. A majestic air surrounded him. Genma bowed to the Lord of the Vampires whom was sitting on his throne. A blonde female vampire was sitting on the vampire lord's lap, caressing his face. "Sasuke-sama, I missed you so much" purred the girl.

The vampire lord simply smirked as he brushed a strand of hair from the girl's eyes. "I'm sorry Ino, but I needed to do a bit of hunting; perhaps next time you'll join me?" The girl gave a teasing smile, kissed her lord on the cheek as she slipped out of the room as she noticed Genma entering the room.

"Welcome back, Sasuke-sama" Genma welcomed his lord home from his hunt with his eyes lowered.

"Why thank you, Genma-san. Now, I want you to train the baby to become a great vampire. Perhaps even one of the commanders in my armies. He has the physique and, for the most part, the personality. You are permitted to do whatever you want to make sure that this new vampire will excel in his new race"

"Hai, Sasuke-sama"

"The baby is over there, about a half hour old"

"…Why is he unconscious?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention that he's a bit stubborn. The kid tried to knock me out. Of course, as a mere mortal, he's slow and weak, but I see the potential in him to become powerful."

"I see…" Genma muttered to himself as he stared at the fresh vampire lying on the floor. He had long dark brown hair and a pale white complexion. The instructor walked over to his new pupil and opened his eye lids. He raised an eyebrow, "lilac pupils, how strange…"

Sasuke stared at the instructor in an amused fashion, "oh, and the kiddo's name is Hyuuga Neji."

"…I see"

End Flashback

* * *

Neji suddenly stopped reiterating what happened during the previous week and looked up at Tenten, who appeared to be absorbed into his story. Hinata had returned to her apartment, so it was only Tenten and himself in his damp apartment.

"So, what happened after? What did your teacher want?"

Neji looked a bit pale and weakly stated, "I need blood… Really hungry…Only had one person…"

Tenten's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, "WHAT!? You are so NOT biting ANYONE. Finish your story!"

"Hai, Tenten-sama" stated Neji teasingly, "Genma-sensei was just really upset at my behaviour and made me starve for one night without blood. Then I went through a night where we learned about vampire history and safety precautions…etc. And the night after I was sent to Sasuke-sama's audience chamber…"

* * *

Flashback # 3, Sasuke's Audience Chamber

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Come in"

"Sasuke-sama , you called?" Neji spoke in a respectful manner with his eyes lowered in respect.

"Ah yes, how is your first week as a vampire?"

"Horrible" replied Neji bluntly

"Eh? Is that so?" questioned Sasuke

"I want to be human again"

"But being an immortal vampire has more benefits that being a mere human." Argued Sasuke

"I want to go back to my 'human' life"

"Ha, you really act like a mortal infant. Look at you, whining to be human again like a baby who's been given a new baby bottle but wants the old one which is totally destroyed. You are very amusing"

The Hyuuga laughed to himself, "and what would an old fart like you want from a baby who can only say goo-goo-gaa-gaa, eh?"

Sasuke smirked. "Well, certainly you have a wider vocabulary than simple human terms. Let's see how much you've learned during this week, neh?"

Neji grunted in response.

"Now let's begin with some basic ideals. Hmmmm…what are the basic principles in the awakening procedure?"

Neji gave Sasuke an annoyed look _"What does he think I am, a slow learner? Yeah, right!"_ thought Neji, as an idea popped into his mind and a small smirk crept onto his face.

"Well, the vampire awakening procedure is a very unusual technique that calls for a need of a multitude of preparations…" stated Neji in a matter-of-fact manner

"And they are?" Sasuke questioned his commander-to-be curiously. He wanted to see what Neji had learned for the past few days, and to see if his intuition was correct.

"Well, there must always be some comfy blankets and pillows inside the hard and damp coffin to ensure absolute comfort. They can be any color. For example red, blue or white… I'm not sure about the color pink, but then again royalty like yourself Sasuke-sama, must love pink blankets. At the same time don't forget the stuffed animals. Of course, I, the prestigious Hyuuga Neji do not need such toys. But for you Sasuke-sama, in your old age, I'm sure stuffed animals are very dear to you. How old are you again? 1 789 years old?"

Neji saw Sasuke want to interrupt his brutal verbal beating but he continued on with his bravado .

"Of course you always need to prepare an alarm clock. Put it under your pillow, but don't turn the alarm on. The alarm clock's ticking is supposed to help you fall asleep so the alarm will not be needed. It's your cousin's job to wake you up. Oh, and never sleep on your back. Remember to sleep on your side and constantly move around. Yes, the tick-tocking from the clock doesn't help with falling fast asleep."

The daring Hyuuga was about to continue when Sasuke rudely budded in, "Those are very HUMAN actions, neh?"

The freshman vampire was about to reply with a sarcastic remark to tick off his lord even more when suddenly, a knock was heard at the door. The Lord of the Vampires sighed. "I told them not to disturb me..." But behind the slate door a deep voice bellowed. "I am sorry Sasuke-sama, but it appears that someone has breached the first line of defence in our fortress."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and gave the man permission. "Enter"

The door flew open and a very pale and stoic vampire marched in with his dark cape rippling behind him. He was Sasuke's advisor and was second to none except for his master. The name of this prestigious vampire was Shino Aburame.

"When were the intruders detected? How many were there? Have you identified their species? Are they werewolves?" Sasuke questioned impatiently, obviously excited that there were intruders in their midst and that he might be able to exercise his fighting hands.

"I believe there was only one person. They were too fast for us to determine their species exactly but I do not think that they were vampire hunters. His killing technique did not resemble that of the ASS. At the same time, they did not have the aura of a werewolf. If this intruder were to be a werewolf, we would have caught their scent miles away. After all, they smell like dung-bats! So I am sorry Sasuke-sama, but I do not know what course of action I should take. Please, tell me what you would see fit in this situation."

Sasuke sat on his throne and pieced out the information that he was given, "What do you think the motive of this intruder is?"

"I can only assume that he entered our fortress with the simple motive of wanting to assassinate you." Shino replied simply.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment. "We will wait for this intruder to come. If this being is a vampire, which most likely they are with their supreme speed and lack of werewolf scent, we should interrogate their motives, neh, Shino?"

Shino nodded in solemn agreement. The onyx-eyed vampire lord moved his hand to where a small human skull lay stuck on a stick, and with his ivory hands, he turned the skull. The left wall began to move. Neji gaped at the sudden change in his environment. _"Moving walls?" _thought Neji, "_I thought they only existed in movies"_

When the wall had moved a full 180 degrees turn, a selection of over 1000 separate small television screens became visible with each displaying a different image. –They were the Uchiha fortress' security cameras.

"This intruder is moving quite quickly" Sasuke stated, amused as he watched the being dash by a different camera each second. "Look at him, one moment in Hallway B2, the next in H5. I must congratulate him for his outstanding speed."

"Sasuke-sama, you should take this intrusion seriously." Shino replied seriously. "What if this being really wishes to assassinate you? Then you will be killed"

"Then I'll enlist you as my successor, happy?" snapped Sasuke. Suddenly, Sasuke noticed something on the cameras. "Actually, scratch that out. I don't need a successor. This vampire won't hurt me. He's an old friend." Shino gave his lord a confused look.

"Neji! You can leave now. I'll continue the interrogation tomorrow." Sasuke ordered with his eyes still locked onto the screens.

Neji slowly obeyed, but as he stepped outside of Sasuke audience chamber, a cool breeze passed him.

"And the intruder has finally arrived" The Hyuuga heard Sasuke state plainly as he snatched a quick glimpse of coal black hair, and watched as the door shut behind him abruptly with a "thud".

End of Flashback

* * *

Back at Neji's apartment

Tenten's eyes were bulging out of her eyes sockets. "What happened! Who was the intruder?"

Neji shrugged. "Never had a chance to find out. Genma-sensei saw me standing around doing nothing so he stuck me into a classroom and began _attempting_ to drill some vampire history into my brain."

Tenten raised an eyebrow, "Well did that Sasuke guy die?" She wanted to know all the gory details like whether the raven-haired vampire lord had his heart pulled out and eaten or not.

Neji shook his head, "No, the next day Sasuke-sama was still around. He seemed happy about something and he had suddenly opened another vampire convent and everyone had a big party."

"A vampire convent?" Tenten questioned.

"Yeah, it's like a little liar for people like me."

His brunette girlfriend looked at the Hyuuga uncomfortably. She didn't want to begin to imagine what a vampire party consisted of. Sensing his girlfriend's discomfort, he decided to continue with his story. "Ok, now we have today…Let's skip to my second meeting with Sasuke. This was around 6 in the evening"

* * *

At the Uchiha Fortress, Neji's Barrack

"Why, hello Neji" Sasuke smiled as he walked into the freshmens' barracks where Neji was lodged with a slew of other newbies. Five other people shared the room with the pearl-eyed Hyuuga, except three of them were still sleeping and the other two had left, preparing for that night's hunt.

"Good morning Sasuke-sama" Neji replied, eyes lowered to show respect for his lord. "It's an honor to have you here." Neji's roommates suddenly popped out of their coffins and in the most "vampiric" manner that they could muster in their sleepiness, bowed and greeted their lord. "Welcome, Sasuke-sama!" they exclaimed in unison. It appeared that the lazy bums of Neji's barrack had finally woken up. Sasuke nodded at the three and asked them to leave, of which they complied.

"So, let's begin where we left off" Sasuke looked at Neji, hoping that today's interview would be more fruitful than the last.

"Left off?" Neji questioned, _"But he just arrived"_

"With the little interrogation, remember?"

"Oh, that" Neji replied sourly, remembering the questioning from two nights ago and how Sasuke had called him an infant.

"Now let's start with the basic slayer precautions." The Uchiha paused to ponder upon a plausible question. "What is the problem with sunlight?"

"Sunlight causes skin cancer?" Neji replied in a stupid manner, of course it was done on purpose just to irritate poor Sasuke.

"…Ok, how does it affect vampires specifically?"

"It causes freckles and blemishes"

"Concentrate Neji, and don't toy with me or I will…do something bad to you" Sasuke couldn't believe he had just uttered such a lame threat.

"_Something bad, eh?"_ chuckled Neji in his thoughts,_ "Let's see how much patience this guy has"_

"Sunlight causes vampires to get tans, therefore making them look too human. And it makes the vampire skin look ugly." Neji tried to contain his smirk of satisfaction as he watched Sasuke twitch in irritation, failing to remain his usual stoic self.

"Ok, let's try an easier topic…how about garlic? How does it NEGATIVELY affect vampires?"

"GARLIC AFFECTS VAMPIRES NEGAVTIVELY!!" Neji gasped. The Hyuuga prodigy was a very good actor. After all, he isn't called a prodigy for no apparent reason. "But I love garlic! Are you sure you're not lying to me? I put garlic in EVERYTHING I eat! Well Tenten puts it all in, she's a garlic-obsessed girl and –" Neji suddenly stopped his crazy ranting about garlic when he noticed Sasuke staring at him weirdly. "…is there something wrong?"

"Tenten?" Sasuke looked at the Hyuuga questionably.

"My girlfriend.." But Neji realized his error. _"stupid Neji!"_ he thoughtto himself "_you've just endangered Tenten!"_

"Interesting. Is she pretty?" Sasuke gave his subordinate an interested smile that sent a shiver down the Hyuuga's back.

"Let's get to the next question, shall we?" Neji gave Sasuke a fake smile as he grimaced at the thought of Sasuke hurting Tenten…or worse.

"Alright, tell me what you know about werewolves." Sasuke said in a plain tone, glad that he had finally snapped this new bat into reality.

"They're our best friends, just like a man and dog." Neji had totally winged this answer. He remembered Genma talking about it, but he didn't remember the answer. Judging by Sasuke's look, he took a wild guess that his response was incorrect. "I assume I am wrong?"

The raven-haired vampire lord gave Neji a cold and threatening stare. His fangs slowly appeared, protruding out of his mouth. It was now certain that this vampire was NOT in a happy mood. "Let's make this clear Neji, the werewolves are our enemies. They are ugly and inferior dung-eating dogs that will NEVER be our friends. UNDERSTAND?!" Sasuke's icy voice send a chill down Neji's spine , however,

Neji's eyes were locked in defiance. Suddenly Sasuke's eyes hardened. With one deadly punch, he blasted Neji out of the room, through the window, out of the fortress, away from the vampire grounds… all the way through a window…and back to his apartment.

Sasuke heard a knock on the door. "Who is it!" Sasuke snapped.

"Genma"

"Perfect. Genma, I would like you to mark Hyuuga Neji as suspended for 2 weeks from vampire academy. Let's hope this clears his mind."

Genma nodded. "Hai, Sasuke-sama"

* * *

Neji lifted his head, however his eyes were still closed. "After landing back here, I got a bit hungry and popped 20 popcorns bags until I had the perfect batch and-" suddenly the pearl-eyed man opened his eyes, curious to find out why his girlfriend had not disrupted his little story, as she normally does. To his surprise, Tenten had crawled up on the couch and was sound asleep. "and she wanted to listen about my week –sigh-"

"Oi Tenten! Wake up and get me out of this chair" Neji said in a calm voice.

But Tenten did not move. She was sound asleep. The vampire learned something new today: Tenten is a deep sleeper. The Hyuuga sat calmly in his chair and took a deep breath. "Tenten, wake up soon or I am going to turn into a crisp by daybreak."

Turns out the white-eyed blood-sucking fiend knew a few things about the sun after all.

* * *

End of Chapter

Yatta! Chapter 2 is done! I understand that Neji is a bit TOO OOC about all the random stuff he spat out at Sasuke but I don't know…it just came out that way. If you feel I should change something etc, then put it in a review and I will try to tweek the chapter :D

Anyways, READ AND REVIEW!

I will try to update as soon as possible, but it may take awhile. Of course, the more reviews I get, the more I want to update lol.

If you're looking for another vampire fic of mine, check out "Eternal Love" a tragedy/romance NejiTen one-shot :D

Well I'll be trying to update my other fics. Bye for now!

Next time of Vampire on a Leash!

Chapter 3: First Times Experiences

Neji will be house-broken and Sakura will take part in her first mission! Will Neji survive Tenten's torture? And will Sakura be able to cope with what vampires are really made of? Stay tuned to find out!


	3. FirstTime Experiences

**Vampire On A Leash**

**Chapter 3: First-Time Experiences**

**Author: The Demonic Ninjas 3**

**Summary** AU Tenten discovers that Neji is a vampire. Can she hide this secret from her best friend Sakura, a vampire slayer, and at the same time suppress Neji's vampire instincts? Or will she just open a whole new can of worms? NejiTen, SasuSaku, NaruHinaKiba, ItaKure

**Pairings:** Neji X Tenten, **Sasuke X Sakura X Sai**, Naruto X Hinata X Kiba, Itachi X Kurenai, OC X OC … more to come …

**Author's Notes:** BanZai! Chapter 3 is up! Thanks for all the support! As for those people who want Naruto to be a vampire… he might actually become one…maybe. Tee-hee. Anyways, here's chapter 3 of VOAL!

* * *

In the midst of an ancient graveyard is a small little hut that is covered by moss, shading much of the interior from light. No one lives in this dark sanctuary, well no one human at least. 

A cold ivory finger glides slowly across an old oak dresser. It collects dust until it reaches a small piece of parchment. A pale hand snatches it up as a pair of chocolate brown eyes reads the note. Four short lines are blotched a fancy handwriting with blotchy black in:

_Be Patient._

_Be Ready._

_When the time comes,_

_Commence._

A small smile plays across the pale white face as the chocolate brown eyes light up in amusement.

"Let the fun… begin."

The innocence of this pale faced being hides the true dark nature that flows through his veins. This being has the gentle aura of a young lady even though he is a grown and matured man. With quick movements, the man slides his long raven hair into a low pony-tail. He wears a black suit which perfects his professional and impeccable appearance.

The raven-haired man glides gracefully across the room towards the door. An elegantly decorated gold-framed mirror stands by the doorway, but the young man does not even give it a quick glance. He already knows that his appearance is perfect – that is, always breathtaking perfect. The absolute perfection in his good looks was a natural characteristic of his. Then again, throughout his life, he never once could see his reflection in the mirror.

With his inherently lithe movements, the pale-faced man opens the front door.

"Zabuza-sama , I'll be back before the sun rises, I promise."

The quick statement is hung in the air as he leaves, letting his jet black hair glide by the door frame as it closes with a "thud".

* * *

"Ring! Ring! Ring!" 

The annoying sound of the telephone echoed throughout the cluttered work room where an exhausted pink-haired vampire slayer lay asleep on her unfinished case studies. The sudden excess of noise due to the phones appeared to have shaken the slayer out of her seat ever so slightly, as mild curses were muttered and hand groped blindly for the bothersome piece of technology. The ringing suddenly stopped and the hand dropped to the table – once again in sleep.

"Good. Saku needs lots and lots of sleep." The slayer mumbled as she almost fell back into her sleeping state, only to have the phone ring yet again.

Sakura jumped to her feet, slamming her head against the desktop lamp as she grabbed the offending phone.

"H-h-hello?" Dark shadows were evident under Sakura's tired eyes as she yawned into the phone. She rubbed her head gently, attempting to nurse the bump that had just formed.

An annoyed voice was heard on the other side of the phone.

"How troublesome. You were sleeping weren't you Sakura? Are you even finished those case studies yet?"

"Shikamaru-senpai! G-gomenasai!"

"I'm glad to hear that you're sorry, but do you know what time it is?" Shikamaru's voice was dull and nonchalant as usual, but there was a hint of irritation that could be heard.

Sakura shifted her gaze to her pink digital alarm clock that sat on her desk. It read 1:05 a.m. Her eyes widened.

"I-I'm going to be late!"

"Uh-huh. You have five minutes to get to Head Quarters. You're very lucky that I ever bothered to call you. It wouldn't be nice if a novice slayer was late for their first practical case, now would it?"

Sakura thanked Shikamaru quickly and ran out the door as quickly as possible while grabbing her tool belt.

* * *

Sakura sped down the streets in her black convertible and ran into the HQ building so blindly that she didn't even notice the new face at the secretary desk. Finally she reached the boss' door and knocked on it three times as she attempted to suppress her heavy panting. 

"Enter!"

Sakura entered her boss' office. The lighting was dim and the blinds were partly open. Shadows were cast everywhere in unusual shapes by the scarcely present light that attempted to illuminate the room. At the center of the dark office was a gigantic desk where the boss sat behind in a comfortable looking chair, giving Sakura a very bored look.

Sakura bowed apologetically. "I apologise for being late, Taichou." (A/N: Taichou boss)

The boss shrugged.

"As long as you're in here in one piece, I'm happy. Although you are 10 minutes late… But whatever. Take a seat. I won't bite."

Sakura timidly slid herself into a seat. Unable to see the boss's face properly, Sakura began squinting. The boss laughed gently. "Oh, I seemed to have forgotten to turn the lights on properly." The mysterious man clapped his hands three times in a commanding manner and the lights flashed on instantly.

Glaring lights illuminated the whole room, causing all the shadows to disappear. For the first time Sakura noticed the many shelves that lined the walls, banks of information and ex-slayer records just waiting to be uncovered by her…

Sakura turned her attention back to her boss, whom she abruptly noticed had a very peculiar but at the same time subtle and handsome face. Her boss had spiked grey hair and a mask that covered most of his facial features. However, the most frightening thing was that had he had one black pupil and one red pupil. The oddness of the eye colours sent a shiver down Sakura's spine.

"Hmmm… is there something wrong, Sakura-chan?"

"N-no Taichou." Sakura blushed, realizing that her eyes lingered on the Taichou's face for too long.

The boss laughed. "There's no real need for that kind of formality. Treat me as a comrade. My name's Kakashi."

"Hai, Kakashi-san."

"Hmmm…. I guess that's better. Shikamaru-kun, you should sit down too."

Sakura spun around to see her lazy partner, his back against a wall. The man with the pineapple haircut sighed as he propped himself in the chair beside Sakura.

"Yo!" Shikamaru greeted Sakura lethargically, his eyes partly open.

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask.

"Well now, I assume that you know your assignment already. I will be assigning you two on an espionage mission-"

"ESPIONAGE!?" Sakura exclaimed as she jumped out of her seat in surprise. She had not expected to be sent on such a mission so soon.

"Yes… espionage…Did Shikamaru-kun not speak to you about that already?" Kakashi gave a momentary glance at the male slayer that sat in front of him. Shikamaru only shrugged.

"It was too troublesome. I didn't want to scare her so soon. Besides, you were going to tell her anyway."

Kakashi sighed and returned his attention to the shaken up Sakura. "The espionage mission shouldn't be too difficult. The team will be composed of five members…" Kakashi suddenly noticed the three silhouettes by the door. He smiled and pressed a button on his desktop phone and stated, "You three may enter now."

At that moment, the door flew open, revealing 3 male slayers in the ASS uniform. Two were about ten years older than Sakura, while the third was about the same age as the pink-haired slayer.

"Let me introduce you two to the other three members." Kakashi rose from his seat and walked over to the first man who had spiky black-blue hair and a cloth that covered the rim of his nose.

"Hagane Kotetsu. He's been in the association for about 15 years, and is a highly skilled weaponry master. If your weapons go faulty, he's the man to ask for a repair."

"Kotetsu at your service. If your sword goes blunt or your pistol gets jammed, hand it over to me and I'll fix it in a jiffy." Kotetsu winked. His eyes sparkled with laughter. Sakura returned the smile wearily.

Kakashi then turned his attention to the man standing next to Kotetsu. He appeared to be the same age and acted almost as if he were Kotetsu's best friend or even twin brother. "Kamizuki Izumo. He's been at the association for 15 years as well. Kotetsu and Izumo entered at the same time. He specialises in the collection of the essential data for missions. If you have any problems or questions, he's the perfect guy to ask." Kakashi suddenly whispered into Sakura's ear.

"Him and Kotetsu are partners in crime. They're inseparable." Kakashi whispered stealthily, but still received a heavy punch to his shoulder.

"We're not deaf you know." Kotetsu laughed with a mischievous smirk.

Kakashi sighed and walked over to the youngest of the trio, who had short cropped hair and a gentle and innocent smile that was very seductive.

"And this young man is Sai." Kakashi paused to observe Sakura's reaction. The young female slayer was absolutely dazzled by the presence of this young person named Sai. He smiled gently at Sakura, yet his face appeared to be sculpted by ivory stone because of its beautiful complexion. His eyes sparkled in the light, which appeared to be drawing Sakura to him. It was obvious that this man was dangerous. Kakashi laughed gently as he spoke.

"Now don't be fooled by Sai's innocent appearance …or may be I should re-word that and say his alluring appearance. He's not as innocent as he seems. Sai's been working for the association for almost his whole life and he's a very diligent spy. As for his position in the team, I'll leave that for you to find out. I decided to have him tag since he is the same age as you, and may be able to help you adapt to the association easier."

Sai bowed to Sakura as a courtier would to a princess, and greeted her with a simple but at the same time dazzling "Hello". Sakura blushed ever so slightly as Kakashi chuckled in amusement.

"And of course, Izumo, Kotetsu and Sai, meet Shikamaru and Sakura."

The five slayers nodded in acknowledgement of each others' presence.

"Now to the issue at hand." Kakashi walked over to his desk and picked up five manila envelopes and handed one to each of the slayers.

"The details of the espionage mission are explained in the envelope. The mission will commence tomorrow so until then you may rest. I shall place Shikamaru as the team leader. Do you have any questions?"

Shikamaru raised his hand. Kakashi nodded his head in acknowledgement of Shikamaru's question. "Yes?"

"I assume that we will have to plan this in a meeting room…"

"Ah! Yes, I forgot. I booked Room 451 for today and tomorrow to plan for your mission. The rooms are all yours for the two days. Do as you wish there. I believe the key cards to that room are in the envelope. Now if you do not have anymore questions, you may take your leave."

The five shook their heads.

"All right, I expect to hear a good final report from you five. You may leave."

"Hai, Kakashi-san." And with the final statement said in unison by the five slayers, they left, letting the door close behind them.

* * *

"KAWAII!" A brunette judo master exclaimed as she stared at the endless shelves of dog collars. 

The sales personnel smiled. "They have been quite popular amongst dog owners these days."

Tenten smiled as she began analyzing one of the collars. Her eyes glazed over as she began to daydream.

"What breed of dog are you purchasing the collar for?" The sales personnel questioned Tenten, jerking his customer out of her reverie.

"Oh, a Siberian Husky!" Tenten chirped as she noticed a black collar that had small pale moons carefully attached to it.

She pointed to it and said, "Oh, I really like this one."

"Do you wish to personalize it?"

"Personalize it?" Tenten raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Yeah, like engraving the dogs name on it." The sales person smiled nervously. He was a young boy with jet black hair and gold highlights. It was his first day on the job and Tenten was his first customer.

"Sounds interesting!"

The teen pulled out a notepad. "So what's the dog's name?"

A mischievous smirk played across Tenten's face as she spoke.

"Neji."

The name appeared to resonate within the store as the young man jotted the name down.

On the other side of town in an apartment, Neji sneezed once.

"Someone must be talking about me, or my apartment really needs some dusting off…"

* * *

Tenten skipped happily up the stairs with two shopping bags at hand as she hummed an upbeat tune. The brunette hated taking the elevator up to Neji's apartment because of a very **BAD** experience with the elevator a few years ago when Neji had first moved into the estate complex. Let's just say that Tenten had been stuck in the elevator at Neji's apartment complex for five hours in a row, and being the impatient girl that she is, she broke her leg and tore a ligament in the process of trying to break open the elevator door with her martial arts skills, only to find out that door would not have had the chance of opening unless she had the strength to break the walls of an elevator door and the apartment complex walls. From then on, Tenten proclaimed that the elevators were cursed and never set foot in an elevator ever since. 

The brunette was trying to find the keys to her boyfriend's apartment when she heard a big "thud" from within. Instinctively the judo master broke down the door with one powerful kick and ran in just in time to save her lavender-eyed boyfriend from being scorched by holy water.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" Tenten exclaimed as she held the bucket of water that could tipped over and drenched Neji in a painful shower in one hand, her bags thrown on the ground in haste. The Hyuuga ignored his girlfriend's scolding as his eyes were transfixed on the bags Tenten had dropped on the floor. A malicious smile grew on his face making his perfect teeth glitter like blood diamonds as his hungry eyes zoned in on the bags. He smelt something good and tasty inside those bags...

Tenten rolled her honey-coloured eyes and placed the shopping bags a good distance away from the lavender-eyed vampire. Gently, she placed the bucket of holy water back into the closet that had been used as a make-shift contraption to ensure that Neji did not wander out of the house and get himself scorched by the radiant sun or run around harming or killing other people – or even himself!

The contraption was composed of a walk-in closet, a chair, a vampire resistant rope and a bucket full of holy water. Neji was strapped to the chair and placed into the closet. If he were to move a muscle, the bucket overhead would tip-over and drench him with the lethal liquid. Of course, being the knowledgeable type of girl, Tenten remembered that vampires were able to stand still for long periods of time without even moving an inch. They could be as still as statues for as long as needed, so Tenten decided to test this theory out, with the help of the new and improved Hyuuga Neji. The brunette believed it as the only proper way of ensuring the Hyuuga, as well as the society's, safety.

Before returning to attend to her boyfriend, she attempted to repair the broken door back into place. The brunette stared at the door uncertainly and shrugged, returning her gaze at the vampire who now lay on the floor, strapped to his chair and glaring dangerous daggers at her.

"Release me." Neji threatened forcefully.

Tenten sighed as she swung a circlet of keys around her index finger – the very keys that would release Neji from his captive state. She stopped momentarily at the shopping bags and slipped her hands into one of the two bags, pulling out a blood packet.

"Were you looking for this, Neji-kun?"

The mentioned rolled his eyes. "May you please release me now?"

Tenten giggled and unlocked the chains and removed the rope that kept Neji captive. Tenten quickly handed the blood pack to Neji who drank greedily from the packet, but his movements did not appear as animalistic as his actions were. Neji's movements were dazzling swift. His pale statuesque hands held the blood packet carefully as his fangs had pierced through the plastic of the packet like a stiletto being returned to its sheath. Neji's dazzling movements could only be explained by his inherently seductive vampire instincts.

When the last drop of blood was drained neatly from the packet, a small but quick smirk crept up Neji's face. Before Tenten could even say a word, Neji had jumped to his feet and with his god-like speed, appeared next to the shopping bags and began prowling through them. His hand stopped abruptly as his eagle-sharp gaze caught sight of a piece of leather. The Hyuuga gave his girlfriend a suspicious glance as he pulled out the black dog collar with the small silver moons embed around it and a small bone trinket that dangled from the collar. On the bone trinket, the name "Neji" was engraved onto it.

"This is…" Neji started uncertainly.

"For you!" Tenten chimed, ending Neji's unfinished statement as she pranced over to her boyfriend's side and fixed the collar around his neck.

"I knew that it would fit you perfectly!" Neji glared at her elated girlfriend and was about to say something but stopped, deciding that it would be futile to argue with her. He released a heavy sigh and went to prop himself onto his couch. Tenten did the same.

"So did you buy any other restrainers?" Neji questioned nonchalantly as he eyed the remote control, wanting very badly to turn on the television, but since Tenten had drenched it with holy water (without making it go haywire of course), that idea had to be abandoned. According to Tenten, by making the remote control Neji-free, there will be zero chance of exposing Neji to sappy romance movies or the equally despised horror movies.

An omniscient smile played across Tenten's face as Neji's question hung in the air.

"What did you have in mind?"

"I believe that I can safely assume an affirmative response."

"I love you Neji-kun! You know exactly how my mind functions!" The brunette exclaimed as she was about to embrace her boyfriend in a back-breaking bear hug, but Neji pushed her away and sped to the other side of the room, his eyes filled with a feeling of turmoil.

Tenten was shocked at Neji's sudden reaction. Normally when Tenten gave Neji a hug he would remain as emotionless as a teddy bear, but today he bolted away from her as if avoiding the plague. She almost blew her top until she realised that Neji's eyes were filled with a distant fear. The judo master tilted her head innocently to the side as she watched Neji take quicker breaths.

"What's wrong Neji? Why did you just bolt away?"

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

"Afraid of what?"

"Of what I am." Neji's words were left to hang in the air as Tenten attempted to comprehend the situation.

"No…"

"But I'm a vampire. A blood-sucking fiend."

"Your point being…"

"How do you know that I won't drink your blood?"

"Because you're Neji."

"…" Neji's eyebrows knotted in confusion.

"Of all the people I know, you're the best at self-control. I know you won't bite me."

"And what if I can't control myself?"

"Let that day be damned, because I know that you will be able to."

"But you confine me to a closet from the time just before dawn until the after the sun sets and feed me only one packet of blood during twilight. Do you really believe that a vampire would be able to withstand that kind of diet? Are you sure that I will be able to remain sane … in a human manner?"

"Yeah, because you're Neji and you love challenges and if this isn't a challenge, then what is? I mean, you've survived for a whole week anyways."

Neji paused for a moment and stared in wonder at Tenten, her eyes glowing in pride even though her boyfriend had just become a vampire. Neji chuckled, he should have known better than to start a debate with Tenten. Women tend to remain undefeated in arguments, and she was no exception.

"And if I do bite you?"

"I'll damn you for the rest of your little vampire life since I'll have vampire skills too!" Tenten ran to the other side of the room and pounced onto Neji.

"So what do you think I bought as a restrainer?"

Neji sighed heavily. He hoped with all his might that he would be able to resist himself from biting Tenten, because Tenten did smell really tasty. It was only because he loved her that he could resist it, but having her this close to him and almost appearing as fragile as a bunny, he would have to place his trust on what Tenten called "self-control".

"I'm not sure, can you give me any hints?"

"Nope! It's your challenge to seek the answer to. No hints."

Neji laughed gently. "All right, something worse than a dog collar."

Tenten giggled and bounded to her feet. "I forgot the leash."

Before the Hyuuga could say no to the leash, the brunette had already fastened it to the collar. "Now you're all mine!"

Neji held his breath and breathed slowly, very slowly as he tried to adapt to the Tenten's sudden closeness. After a moment Neji felt his mind become clear from ravenous desire to snap at Tenten's neck and closed in eyes in triumphant rest as Neji sighed in irritation. Although he was a vampire and he needed restrictions, his personality was like a wild wolf - he didn't like to be restrained.

"Is this the restriction?"

"Nope!"

The lavender-eyed vampire eyed his girlfriend curiously as if attempting to pry open the truth from her eyes as one would with a can and a can opener.

"The almighty Hyuuga Neji can't determine what his mortal girlfriend bought?"

"I'm a professional soccer player, not Sherlock Holmes." The Hyuuga stated bluntly. Neji's profession in life was a soccer player, and a good one at that, seeing that he's the team captain of Team Japan.

"But you like riddles as much as Sherlock Holmes."

"Humph. No comment."

"Awww…. Neji-kun's getting annoyed."

"Hn."

"Are you sure you want to give up?"

"I never said I was giving up."

Tenten laughed. "All right, I'll wait for a response."

_An hour later…_

The misfit couple sat idly on the couch in an amused silence, the clock ticking away behind them on the wall.

Tenten yawned. "You're so boring. I'm going for a bag of chips."

The Hyuuga did not respond. His face was plastered with a gentle contemplative mask as he sat motionless on the couch, as if he were posing as a statue of a great god of knowledge placed on a modern couch. Tenten sighed and was about to grab at the bag of chips that sat idly on the coffee in front of her when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Neji jumped to his feet lightly and attempted to speed over to the door, only to have almost thrown Tenten over at the makeshift door because she was still holding onto the leash. The brunette glared at Neji who smiled sheepishly.

"I told you not to try to restrain me. Vampires are stronger than humans you know."

Tenten scowled as she felt herself being dragged across the apartment floor. Neji lifted the door from its hole, seeing that Tenten had not bolted the door properly from the break in earlier, and to his surprise, he found a young delivery man carrying a gigantic coffin. Neji eyed it carefully.

"What may I do for you?" Neji questioned the delivery boy who looked shocked and appalled by the fact that the door had been pried open from its place instead of opened and that the man he was speaking to had a dog collar around his neck with a collar that lead all the way to where a peeved off girl was sitting on the floor glaring at the man who had 'opened' the door. He never imagined ever having to come face-to-face with such crazy household farce.

"Ummm… I believe you ordered a coffin from the local funeral home?"

The delivery boy watched as the man with long raven haired questioned the girl on the floor in a monotone voice. The girl's face appeared to lighten up when she saw the coffin behind the young delivery boy. The girl jumped to her feet and smiled. "I ordered it for my deceased grandfather."

"I see…" The young boy hesitantly pulled out a clipboard as he wearily watched the girl beam at the coffin. The boy never imagined any to be happy of seeing a coffin. Usually people were crying fountains and were in need of tissues. He handed the clipboard over to the girl.

"Ummm…. Please sign here."

The girl quickly signed the sheet on the clipboard and handed it back to the delivery boy, who noticed that the girl had warm hands. The boy relaxed as his hand briefly made contact with the girl's, realising that the girl was not a vampire but human… perhaps she was a psychotically morbid human who had an affinity for coffins. The boy hesitantly bowed to Neji and Tenten and thanked them as he left. Never again would he want to deliver a coffin to this apartment complex, or any apartment complex for that matter. In his opinion, there was only one place for a coffin, and that was buried under the ground where the dead people should rest in peace and leave the living alone…

* * *

Neji eyed the coffin curiously, sensing that something wasn't right about it. Tenten giggled as she saw Neji suspiciously staring at her now prized possession. The brunette replaced the door back into its former position as she dragged the coffin inside Neji's apartment complex. 

"A gift from me to you!" Tenten exclaimed as she hugged the coffin affectionately.

Neji raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Is this my restriction?"

"Maybe…"

"Humph."

"I wanted you to be more comfortable during the day, instead of being stuck in the closet."

"I don't like coffins."

"Are you claustrophobic?"

"No…"

"Then this should be fine."

"Whatever." Neji began to walk away from his new bed.

"Hey come back here! You haven't even opened it yet!" Tenten was about to grab Neji's arm to drag him back to her present, when Neji's body suddenly disappeared from in front of her and miraculously appeared on the sofa, relaxing and pretending he had not heard his girlfriend's plea.

Tenten's eyes widened.

'_So you're going to play a game eh? Well two can play at this game...'_ Tenten's thoughts rang through her head like the chiming of a church bell. Tenten stretched her muscles and glared at her boyfriend, who pretended not to notice Tenten's preparations on a futile ambush.

"You're going down Neji!" Tenten yelled as she pounced onto the sofa only to find that Neji was standing beside the TV, leaning his back against the wall, smirking in satisfaction.

"Sorry, what did you just say? I couldn't hear because I had something in my ears."

"Why you…!" Tenten scowled under Neji's triumphant statement.

Suddenly an all out war between the judo master mortal and the freshman vampire misfit pair began. Pillows were propelled through the air aimlessly, vases being knocked over, only to be saved by some unknown force (-cough- Neji) and some other unknown objects were being displaced from their former positions when suddenly the phone rang. With his inherently lithe movements, Neji appeared beside the phone and picked it up while maintaining his superiority and upper hand in the small scrimmage.

"Hello?" Neji voice rang into the phone like a call from an angel.

It took a moment for the caller to realise who they had called.

"N-neji!"

* * *

Kotetsu drapped an arm around Shikamaru's shoulder. "Yo! Shika, seems like you're stuck being our leader again. Ha!" 

Kotetsu appeared to be laughing at some inside joke.

Izumo smiled gently. "So what's your opinion on the team formation, Taichou?"

"Troublesome."

"Ha! You're so predictable Shika-Taichou. Izumo, you owe me 5 dollars." Kotetsu playfully punched Shikamaru in the shoulder with his right arm, his left hand outstretched towards Izumo, who scowled and fished out the money from his pocket. A few incoherent words were muttered by the pineapple-haired team leader.

"Did you see the new secretary?" Izumo questioned his comrades.

"Yeah," replied Kotetsu, "I thought he was a girl… then I realised he was a man. Some men just don't seem to have the masculine air anymore you know."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Who cares, as long as he does the job. Didn't you recall that the last secretary died!"

Kotetsu shrugged as they continued to walk towards the elevators.

Sakura had trailed behind the three men as she realised that the three knew each other quite well. For the first time, she felt inferior to everyone. She didn't have the experience of a practical mission. Sure, the association did have virtual simulator tests for physical aptness with situations, but Sakura had never been close to a vampire before and she was beginning to feel queasy at the idea of coming face-to-face with one for the first time in her life. Unexpectedly, someone tapped on the shoulder. Sakura spun around to come face-to-face with Sai. His sudden appearance caused her heart to skip a beat.

"Hello Sakura…-chan." Sai paused for a moment before he had added the suffix.

"H-hello Sai" Sakura stammered back.

"Does my presence cause you discomfort?"

"N-no…"

Sai chuckled. "So have you unravelled the riddle of my profession yet?"

Sakura shook her head, attempting to control her emotions under Sai's hypnotic eyes.

"No, do you have any clues to give me?"

Sai smirked. "Well, what do you think you know about me?"

Sakura didn't know what to say. In reality, she never actually tried to think about what Sai's profession was. All she knew was that he was amazingly seductive. But would being a Casanova be a vocation within the association? Somehow she really doubted it.

Sakura was about to speak when Kotetsu interrupted. "Hey you two, quit moping around and get into the elevator!"

Sakura and Sai quickly stepped into the elevator and watched as Izumo pressed the button for the elevator to move to floor five. The elevator doors closed silently.

* * *

"All right, we have everything settled,right? Sai and Kotetsu are to search the premises and report back to the base before the rest of us move in. Then, we'll split the team accordingly and ensure that Sakura will be with three people. Remember that there will be no individuals going in by themselves. The mission isn't very hard, but precautions are needed. Is everyone all right with the situation?" Shikamaru spoke sternly as he analysed the expressions on each of his team members faces'. They all appeared to understand the severity of the mission even though Shikamaru had called it easy.

The mission that the five slayers were to execute was to retrieve information about the newest vampire house that was set up a week ago. The mission sounded simple, but it was uncertain how big the new vampire hideout would be, how many vampires were living in it or the strength of the vampires. The slayers had to be extremely cautious and to ensure that they would not attract attention because five vampire slayers surely would not be enough to defeat a house full of vampires!

Shikamaru sat himself at the circular desk where the rest of teammates sat, waiting for any possible questions on their formation. Sure enough, Kotetsu had something to say.

Kotetsu raised his hand. "Hey, how well equipped are we permitted to be? I mean, I know this is espionage, but what if we DO get attacked?"

Shikamaru paused for a moment. "You'll be permitted to bring the basic equipment only. Two pistols, four rows of ammunition, the stake belt, the metallic sword and the wooden sword. That's it."

Kotetsu sighed and muttered something incoherently to Izumo who laughed. Kotetsu was all too pleased with the amount of weapons they were allowed to bring.

Sakura stared at the contents of the manila envelope. There wasn't much inside seeing that her mission was to collect information on a fairly new vampire hideout. The only information that was given about the actual hideout was the general location of the lair, which was not very specific. A worried look creased her face.

Sai who sat beside patted her on the shoulder. "There's no real need to worry. The missions are not too hard. If you're in danger I'll save you."

Sakura smiled at Sai sheepishly, not wanting to show her nervousness and appear to be the weakling in the group. "I think I'll be fine, thanks for your concern."

Sai shrugged. "I'll be there just for extra precautions."

Shikamaru looked around and saw that everyone appeared to be satisfied with the meeting. He looked at his watch. It was 4 in the morning and everyone looked pretty tired. He cleared his voice which caught the other four slayers' attention. "The meeting is adjourned. You guys should take a good night's sleep. Unless you have any objections, I'll talk with Kakashi-san about taking all of tomorrow off. I don't think we'll need another meeting. Call me if there are any problems, all right?"

Kotetsu gave a teasing pout. "Awww… If we're going home that means Kakashi-san didn't book us any of _those_." Kotetsu had little puppy eyes he expressed his disappointment.

Shikamaru sighed plainly as he was jotting quick notes onto a sheet of paper. "No, he did, but I think it's better to stay at home. They're more of a distraction than comfort."

Kotetsu jumped to his feet. "SWE-EET! So where are the key cards?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Manila Envelope."

Kotetsu grabbed his envelope and dumped the contents out onto the table. Sakura turned her attention to Sai who had a bemused expression plastered on his face as he watched Kotetsu dnace around the room as if he were on fire while praising a golden key card.

"What does Kotetsu mean by _those_?" Sakura asked her too-smiley colleague Sai.

"The ASS hotel rooms. You only get access to them during practical missions. Even if you are assigned a practical mission, it's rare that the boss will book a room for you. We're very lucky that Shikmaru-kun is on good terms with Kakashi-san." Sai chuckled to himself.

"You should check the rooms out though. The rooms are actually quite luxurious and help distract you if you're worked up about an upcoming mission." Sai smiled at Sakura, a smile which implied "Use the hotel rooms while you have the chance!"

Sakura thanked him and opened up her manila envelope to search for her key card. It was golden as well and the words. "L428" were engraved on the card in a pretty Edwardian Script. The card was quite pretty. It seemed that Kakashi had expected Kotetsu or someone to spark interest in the ASS hotel rooms because there was a small note that told Sakura to ask Sai for directions to the hotel rooms. Sakura raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Either someone had tampered with her file or the boss was a joker, in which the reason for both cases sounded weird.

"So, where ARE the hotel rooms?" Sakura asked Sai, complying with the notes instructions.

Sai laughed. "I think we're all heading that way now."

Sakura noticed that Kotetsu appeared to have been able to persuade Izumo and even the reluctant Shikamaru to rest at the hotel instead of at home in his elated state. Kotetsu was going on and on about how it would be safer because there would be security and about the overall awesomeness of the hotel rooms. Shikamaru had finally submitted to Kotetsu's wooing.

"I assume that we're all going?" Shikamaru questioned nobody in particular because it was rhetorical.

Kotetsu yelped in joy as his three comrades nodded in their consent. Grabbing his key card, he ran over to the back of the meeting room an was about to grab a blue book on the bookshelf by the back room when he stopped. "Yo, Shika, which one opens up for the hotel again?"

Shikamaru sighed as he strode off to where Kotetsu stood and with lightning quick movements (well, at least to Sakura) unlocked the code to open the secret passageway towards the ASS hotel rooms by shifting several books on the shelf. Suddenly the bookshelf moved mechanically to the side to reveal a secret door. Shikamaru quickly slid his key card into the indicated area and had his iris identified to ensure that he was indeed, Nara Shikamaru who was entering the hotel grounds. Shikamaru then walked straight into the closed solid door and melted straight into it. Sakura gasped in astonishment as she realised that Shikamaru had disappeared into the door.

Sai chuckled gently to himself. "It's just a barrier/portal thing. There's nothing to be afraid of. He'll be waiting on the other side."

Sakura blinked in astonishment. ASS was amazing. She suddenly noticed that no one else had moved. Kotetsu smiled gently as he bowed deeply as if Sakura was a princess.

"Ladies first."

Sakura walked up uneasily to the spot where Shikamaru had stood a few mmoments ago, with her manila envelope at hand. Hesitantly she slid her key card into the indicated area, mimicking her team captain's exact movements. She gave a furtive look to her team mates who quickly ushered her through the portal.

As soon as Sakura stepped through the portal, she felt that something was wrong. Her stomach began feeling nauseated as she crossed the portal, almost immobile. Her body felt as if it were being shredded to pieces in one place and in the next moment reassembled in another area. She was then abruptly spat out of the portal and would have fallen face first had Shikamaru not been there to stop her fall.

"Are you all right?" Shikamaru questioned Sakura instinctively as he leaned her against a wall and brushed the loose pink locks of hair behind the slayer's ear.

Sakura nodded. "I'm fine," but she still felt a little queasy. Feeling the need to sit on the floor and put her head between her knees, Sakura moved herself away from Shikamaru and placed herself on the floor.

From the corner of Shikamaru's eye, he watched Sai, Izumo and Kotetsu enter the hotel premises. Kotetsu jumped into the air, filled with excitement. "Man that was AWESOME!"

On the other hand, Izumo was rubbing his temples, mumbling something along the lines of "I'm never going to get the hang of going through portals."

At that point Sakura realised that Izumo and Kotetsu acted opposite of each other, however they were both quite optimistic people.

Sai walked up to where Shikamaru stood. "So how's the little princess doing?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "I think she just hasn't been able to adapt to the portal movement – yet"

Sai laughed. "The operating word being 'yet', eh?"

"Hey, it was my first time," croaked Sakura, her head still felt dizzy and her legs were still lethargic, "and don't call me princess!" Sakura glared at Sai. She hated being called princess. Ever since she was in kindergarten, people kept nicknaming her princess because she had pink hair, which she felt was an underestimation of her abilities.

"My apologies… I'm not used to working with females…" Sai attempted to smile sheepishly but could only conjure up a demented grin/smirk.

"Why?" Sakura questioned curiously.

"Because they tend to…" Sai stopped abruptly in his sentence. "Never mind, I can't say."

"Is it related to your vocation within the association?" Sakura attempted to keep the topic of Sai's vocation alive.

Sai pretended to not hear Sakura's question and turned to Shikamaru. "So, are we heading to our rooms now?"

"Yeah."

Sai looked at Sakura uncertainly. "How about the little princ- I mean Sakura." Sai felt the female slayer boring holes in his back with her fiery stare.

"Someone will have to carry her I guess."

A smile crawled up Sai's face as he spun around and scooped Sakura into his arms with his unnaturally quick movements, so that it appeared the two were advertising for a bridal show. "Ok, let's go."

Kotetsu began coughing with laughter as he watched Sakura attempting to rip herself out of Sai's arms. "Let go of me! I can walk!" Sakura complained as she banged her balled fists against Sai's rock hard chest. "Ow! What the hell?!" Sakura glared at Sai who shrugged. "Are we going now?"

Shikamaru nodded, leading the way to the elegantly decorated glass elevators with golden frames. Shikamaru let the others step into the luxurious elevator first and watched the glass doors shut with as he enunciated in a clear but dull tone, "L428". The elevator zoomed so quickly that it took only one second to reach their designated doors. The five slayers stepped out of the glass elevator and watched as it suddenly disappeared, as if it never was really there.

Sakura felt her feet touch the floor as she realised that Sai had finally placed her back onto her feet. "Feel better now?"

"Plenty." Sakura replied as she moved her legs in an attempt to boost her blood circulation to them.

Izumo and Kotetsu had already entered their rooms. The hall that they had entered felt odd. There were a total of eight rooms. Five of the rooms were labelled with one of the five slayer names. Sakura noticed how her team mates' rooms were placed on the left side, while her room was placed on the right side, along with a miniature library, a lounge and a meeting room, which was seemingly unnecessary seeing that any of the three extra rooms could have been used as a meeting room.

Sakura skipped over to the door labelled with her name and slid her key card through the indicated area which automatically activated the iris scan. This time the door opened, and Sakura pranced into her designated room. The female slayer thought she heard Sai say "See you later," but wasn't very sure. She was still mad at him for carrying her without permission.

As Sai had said, the room was luxurious, and to her delight, it was dainty enough to make her feel at home. The room was bright with snow white walls and rose pink curtains. A welcoming bed stood on the right hand side of the while a bookshelf stood on the left. A small work desk stood in between and other miscellaneous furniture were scattered neatly around the room. The other rooms were designed with as much detail as hers.

Sakura flung herself onto her bed so that she was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. Kicking off her shoes, Sakura rested her head on a very comfortable pillow. Sakura was about to fall into a deep sleep when she suddenly remembered something. Sakura picked up a pink dial phone and dialled Tenten's phone number …or so she thought.

"Hello?" A richly deep but oddly cheerful male voice answered the phone. Sakura thought she dialled the wrong number but she suddenly recognised the voice. "NEJI!"

There was a pause on the phone. "Sakura? What do you want?" Neji's voice was confused but at the same time cold and blunt.

Sakura was about to say that she had accidentally called his house instead of Tenten's number when she heard a female voice yelling. "Come back here Neji!" It was evidently Tente's angry voice. She laughed to herself. Couple feud again.

"May I please speak to Tenten?" Sakura asked politely. She heard the phone being thrusted into the air. "Yo, Tenten! Catch! It's Sakura!"

The pink-haired slayer heard a moment of panting before Tenten's voice perked onto the other line. "Hey Sakura!"

Sakura smiled. It was Tenten alright. "Hey Tenten, just out of curiosity, when did Neji come back from his disappearance? I mean I thought he was still missing."

"Oh, last week." Tenten brushed the question off lightly.

"And he didn't tell me. How cruel." Sakura replied teasingly.

"True tee-hee."

"Just wait." Tenten attempted to cover the receiver. "Neji, you're going DOWN!"

There was a haunting laugh in the background as Tenten returned to Sakura. "So, why'd you call?" Tenten asked, her frustration evident.

"I have to cancel our get-together tonight because I have to stay at HQ. Sorry." Sakura replied apologetically.

"It's all right, Neji has a fever so I have to take care of him anyways." Tenten lied.

"Really? He sounded pretty fine to me."

"You know him. He always pretends to be the tough guy."

"Ha-ha true."

"Well, anyways, I have to give him his medicine now. It's going to be tough. He acts like such a child!"

"I guess that's the reason for your feud."

"You're telepathic, my dear friend. Anyways, talk to you later Saku-chan!"

"Bye, Tenten." Sakura said cheerfully, then hung up.

The phone clicked off and Sakura propped her head on the comfy pillow once again. Her mind began to wander, and eventually she found herself attempting to crack Sai's enigma. What could his vocation be? He supposedly didn't work with female slayers because of his mysterious vocation, which was odd. He was strong and fast, even for a talented slayer. He was deadly attractive with his serene features, his gentle eyes and his smiles, his dazzling smiles. Sakura stopped thinking right there. Why the hell was she analyzing him with such detail? She decided to stop trying to figure out the answer to Sai's little riddle.

The pink-haired slayer picked out a book from the nearby bookshelf and propped it onto her bed. Cracking the book open, she scanned the headings and realised that it was a history book, and a pretty old one at that, seeing that it was covered with a blanket of dust. Sakura brushed the dust off scanned the headings for something interesting. One of the headings caught her eye. "War between the vampires and the werewolves. Again" The heading intrigued her and she decided to read the small passage.

_"One hundred years back, it is said that the delicate truce that held the two deadly races from each other was broken. It is still unknown WHAT the cause was, but it angered both sides, and there were preparations for war. The humans were unaware of the broken truce and were left unable to protect themselves from the dreadful ten years that were to pass._

_The werewolves and vampires realised that in order to prepare to engage in war against their nemesis, there would be a need to increase their armies. The quickest way to do so was to transform humans into one of them. For the next ten years, humans disappeared at alarming rates. Many of the abducted humans were athletes or prodigies. The theory that explains the targeted hunting systems of both mythical races is that when a human transforms, there most prominent abilities are augmented in their new race. See Dr. Madhara's essay Theories behind Mythical Hunting for more information._

_The hunting lasted for ten years…"_

Sakura stopped reading. She was astonished that she hadn't known about this war earlier. Then again, all she knew was how destroy vampires, and she didn't really care about their history. Sakura began to reminisce on the passage. _"Many of the abducted humans were athletes or prodigies."_ For some odd reason that made her think of Sai. Sakura quickly attempted to shake the idea that Sai was a vampire out of her mind. Sai was human. He had warm blood flowing through his veins. The association would never hire a monster … or would they …?

Sakura skipped to the end of the passage.

_The war ended after fifty horrific years, at the cost of the humans. The royal family of the vampire clan disappeared without a trace. It is still unknown if there were any successors to the royal family left, but theories state that it was because of the disappearance of the vampire royal family that the war ended…"_

Sakura closed the book. She had enough vampire history for one day. It was time for a nap. Shikamaru was right; the ASS hotel rooms were distracting. Sakura closed her tired eyes and finally decided to take a nice nap. The clock on the bedside table read 6 a.m.

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER!**

**A/n:**OMG! Never mind about chapter two being the longest chapter. Chapter three is the longest I've written! Its 22 pages long! AH! Well, I had fun writing it. Yes, I had to add in Sai. I went on this Sai frenzy, so now he gets to make an appearance in VOAL.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sasuke and… Kiba shall make an appearance in the next chapter, and it shall be interesting tee-hee. Missions and Soccer games coming right up!

In the mean time, I beg of you readers to please, **READ AND REVIEW**!

It makes me feel good :D

And it inspires me lol.

Signed,

The Demonic Ninjas 3

P.S. Out of curiosity, a question addressed to reviewers, what do YOU think Sai's vocation is in ASS?


	4. Arm Your Forces

**Vampire On A Leash**

**Chapter 4: Arm Your Forces **

**Author: The Demonic Ninjas 3**

**Summary** [AU Tenten discovers that Neji is a vampire. Can she hide this secret from her best friend Sakura, a vampire slayer, and at the same time suppress Neji's vampire instincts? Or will she just open a whole new can of worms? NejiTen, SasuSaku, NaruHinaKiba, ItaKure

**Pairings:** Neji X Tenten, Sasuke X Sakura X Sai, Naruto X Hinata X Kiba, Itachi X Kurenai, OC X OC … more to come …

**Author's Notes:** Surprise! Happy New Year everyone and I hope you enjoy Chapter 4 of Vampire On A Leash! Wow, that took a long time to update LOL. I would once again like to thank all my reviewers for inspiring me to continue! Arrigatou!

* * *

It was a typical graveyard shift at the A.S.S. The late-night slayers came in and out of the HQ building, collecting their new missions, submitting the finalized reports of their completed missions, and reporting the amount of kills. Everything was ordinary, except for the newly hired secretary. The female slayers blushed as they walked by the secretary's desk. The male slayers gossiped among themselves about the "pretty-boy" secretary, a new rival of romance in their midst.

The secretary had long jet-black hair that was tied into a ponytail and warm chocolate brown eyes that seemed to draw any human towards the man; however, the secretary never looked up from his work. His statuesque fingers moved swiftly across the keyboard while his eyes were glued to the screen. He was a typical studious secretary who occasionally stood up to greet the slayers upon their return from missions, or so everyone thought.

Sure enough, the secretary completed his work, but he was a bit too curious about the slayer profiles for a normal human. Whenever the man had time, he checked out the slayer profile list. His excuse – he wanted to become familiar with the slayers on a face-to-face basis.

It was 5:00 in the morning, and the early morning shift was about to begin. The hard-working secretary had lost track of time and had not realized that his shift had come to an end. He had attempted to keep tabs on all the slayers that had entered and left the building, skimming through their profiles, however there was one profile that he was denied access to. The profile was of the slayer known as "Sai". The secretary stared at the monitor pensively as the sign "Access Denied" flashed in front of his eyes.

A woman with bronze skin wearing formal office attire with a twist of militaristic essence as a camouflage green scarf hung around her neck walked up to Haku's desk.

"Ano, are you the new secretary?" The girl asked plainly as she had her arms on top of the monitor as if she were flirting with the person to whom she asked the question to. Without looking up from the screen, he nodded.

"I was hired last night." Giving the nearby clock a furtive glance, the secretary realized that his shift had ended. Quick to his feet, the man closed a few screens on the computer in one fluid motion and stood up from his seat.

"My name is Sugahara Haku, the new secretary of the A.S.S. How may I help you?" He asked, but his words were slightly slurred as if he were in a daze.

The girl laughed. "Sugahara Haku, eh? I'm Tsuchi Kin. I'm here to relieve you of your post."

"So you're the early morning secretary? Nice to meet you." Haku smiled sheepishly.

"Nice to meet you too." Kin replied as she walked casually over to the other side of the secretary's desk and placed her briefcase on the floor while untying her scarf and placing it on a jacket hanger, next to Haku's suit jacket.

"So how was your first day? Anything interesting happen?"

"I guess it was as typical a shift as any. Lots of vampires were annihilated; missions were completed as expected…" Haku suddenly paused for a moment as if debating over whether he should say something.

"Well, I was looking through the slayer profiles, but there happened to be one I couldn't access…"

"Was the slayer on an active mission?" Kin asked curiously.

"Yeah, Mission 66-02-24-07."

"That's odd… usually the profiles of slayers on active missions don't have an access denied code on it… Since we secretaries have to update their profiles. Who was the oddball?"

"A slayer by the name of Sai."

"Hatake Sai? He's the adoptive son of the boss. Quite a charming young man I must say." Kin giggled. "I don't usually see him on the active missions list though. To tell you the truth, I never needed to access his profile. All I know is that he's been in the association ever since he was born!"

"Wow," Haku spoke in a moderate tone of disbelief. "He must be a highly experienced slayer by now."

"I would assume so. I heard that his parents died when he was about 6 months old, and Kakashi-san took the poor child under his wing. An odd choice of action on the boss' part though, seeing that he isn't much of a father figure."

Haku chuckled at Kin's small joke. "Do you know anything about his parents?"

"Not really." Kin replied. The front doors of the association headquarters opened, revealing two werewolf slayers.

"Morning Kin!" One of the two slayers greeted the female secretary while the other waved in salutation. Kin returned the greeting and sat herself in front of the computer.

"My, my, time sure flies when we're chatting. Anyways, I better get to work before the boss begins breathing down my neck." Haku nodded in agreement as he put on his jacket and adjusted the pair of sunglasses on his face.

"Sunglasses, at dawn?" Kin raised a quizzical eyebrow. A hint of bemusement was in her voice.

"My eyes are highly sensitive to light." Haku replied as he straightened his jacket and picked up his briefcase and began heading towards the door.

"See you tomorrow, Kin."

"See you", Kin blushed as she watched Haku step out of the building. Haku's presence seemed to have brightened her day. Kin attempted to brush the idea out of her mind. She reminded herself that she had a boyfriend and that Zaku wouldn't like it if she were acting so coy with the new secretary.

"It must have been Haku's cologne that made me so attracted to him", Kin muttered to herself and she began her work for the day. The sun had just begun to rise, an indication of a new day and new challenges.

* * *

Tenten's eagle sharp eyes shone with pride as she watched her white belt students perfect their break falls. Her hard work was finally paying off. The students were almost ready to be promoted to the next level.

Suddenly, the dojo door slid open, and the secretary appeared with a cordless phone on hand, breaking her train of thought.

"A call for you, Tenten-sensei." The secretary spoke in a business-like manner. Tenten nodded in acknowledgement and asked her students to continue their practice. Taking the phone from the secretary's hands, Tenten walked into her office and pressed the "TALK" button.

"Hello?"

"Tenten-chan? Hey, it's Lee." The person on the other side greeted her.

"Lee-kun? Oh, how are you?" Tenten replied in surprise.

"I'm fine. I was wondering if you've seen Neji recently. We need to do another practice soon."

"Why?"

"There's a match tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?!" Tenten's throat went dry. She forgot that confining Neji to his apartment with no forms of communication might lead to trouble. After all, Neji was the captain of Team Japan's football team and the Asia Cup was currently in full swing.

"I'll call him and see if he can make it to the next practice."

"So you HAVE seen him recently!" Lee exclaimed in excitement.

"Yeah, he's had a cold for the past week or so. It's pretty bad." Tenten lied.

"But don't colds leave your system after about 10 days?"

"Yeah, but as I said, this one is pretty bad."

"He should go see the doctor then! We don't want Neji to pass out on us during a practice!" Lee exclaimed, clearly horrified.

"Well, I think he'll be fine. The bug has almost left."

"Phew." Lee sighed in relief. "All right, call back when he decides what to do."

"Sure… Lee, I have a question." Tenten spoke in a hesitant manner.

"Yeah?" Lee urged the judo master on.

"What time is the match being held?"

"Oh, it's an evening match. Starting at 8pm."

"Oh. Thanks. I was just curious." Tenten replied as she attempted to mask her relief. She wouldn't want Neji in a match while the sun was still shining brightly overhead!

"All right, talk to you later then."

"Yeah, bye Lee."

Tenten heard Lee's phone click off and began rubbing her temple pensively. This was so bothersome. She wasn't sure if Neji could handle walking in a crowd of people in a mall without turning all vampire-like, never mind crazy crowds at a football stadium and sweaty football players with their adrenaline maxing out.

Slowly, Tenten dialed Neji's private cell. This special cell phone did not permit the user to call anyone; it only let the partner call the user. It was one of those small programmable cell phones that some worry-wort parents gave their tweens. The cell didn't even need to ring once before it was picked up.

"Hey, Tenten!" Neji greeted his girlfriend. "Anything the matter?"

"Lee called…" Tenten paused for a moment as she formulated her thoughts carefully. "There's a match tomorrow."

There was no response from the other side.

"Neji?" Tenten asked worriedly.

"Yeah." Neji replied in a monotone fashion.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, continue…"

"You're kind of quiet. I thought you were going to burst or something."

"You haven't finished talking yet. I need to hear the entire situation before I react."

"Ok, well, the match is tomorrow, and Lee said the team needed practice with you there. The match is an evening shift, so that should be good. They just wanted to know when to take the practice."

"Who are we facing?" Neji spoke in a commanding tone.

"Let's see…" Tenten turned on her laptop as she placed it onto her desk. Neji was also denied access to the computer, in case he came into contact with a potential prey. The reason why Tenten was so precarious over the communication issue was because she didn't want Neiji calling over… for example the pizza delivery boy for lunch… literally. She wasn't fully sure if Neji's "one blood packet per day" diet actually worked. So, to keep society safe, Neji wasn't allowed communication with the outside world.

Tenten quickly went onto the Asia Cup home page. In the dead center of the page were two flags – The Japanese flag and the Chinese flag. Tenten chuckled.

"It's a Sino-Japanese war tomorrow. Match starts at 8pm."

"China, eh? They've been doing exceedingly well this season." Neji spoke matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, so what's your game plan?"

"Practice tonight. 6pm at the Onibawa Stadium. They'll let us in."

"Make it from 8 to 11."

"Why?" Neji questioned Tenten's motive.

"Not sure if the sun's down by 6. And I have… a special practice for you…"

"Hmmm… and what might that be?" Neji replied curiously.

"You'll see." Tenten giggled as she skimmed through the team profile of the Chinese football team. "Some of them are actually quite charming…"

"Didn't catch that," Neji replied, eyebrows knotted in confusion.

"No, I was glancing over the Chinese Team. The team Captain is one heck of a charmer."

"Oh…"

"Don't worry Neji-kun! You're still my number one!"

"Thanks. Anyways, do you mind getting home earlier so I can actually make a game plan? I'm pretty sure Gai-sensei is going to bombard me with one of his crazy ideas again, so I'll need my own plan."

"Sure!" Tenten chirped in reply.

"All right, see you soon Tenten."

"Yup! Love you Neji-kun!"

"Love you too, Tenten. Ja!"

Tenten heard Neji turn off his cell. Playing with the small strands of hair that had come out of her bun, Tenten decided that she should grab one of the assistant senseis to teach the rest of the period so she could get to Neji's place earlier… Yeah, that wouldn't be that bad of an idea. After all, the reputation of Team Japan was at stake. Tenten chuckled at that thought as she dialed the number of the assistant sensei.

* * *

The warm rays of the afternoon sunshine broke through the pink curtains of Sakura's ASS hotel room. Sakura had managed to sleep for 6 hours straight, and now she felt much better. The pink-haired slayer rolled around in her bed for a while before getting up and running through her "morning" routines.

Sakura opened her hotel room door and stepped onto the carpeted hallway. There was a prominent feeling of family in this building. Obeying the laws of nature, Sakura went into the kitchen to grab a sandwich to eat before heading towards the library where her colleagues were relaxing for the day, attempting to forget about tomorrow's mission.

The library was picturesque and cozy. The carpet was maroon coloured and fluffy. The walls were painted beige, while the bookshelf was tinted a warm honey stain. Izumo and Kotetsu greeted Sakura warmly. They were sitting at the right-side of the library, their elbows were on the desk as they were in the middle of an arm wrestle. Shikamaru's head suddenly popped out from behind a shelf of books.

"Afternoon, Sakura." Shikamaru greeted the pink-haired slayer. A pencil was neatly held up by the bridge of his ear as a clipboard lay in the comfort of his arm.

"Good afternoon to you too, Shikamaru-senpai!" Sakura replied happily. "What are you looking for?"

"Researching the area we're going into." Shikamaru said as he began scanning the spines of the books in front of him.

"But aren't we going to a new convent? There shouldn't be information on it then…"

"Yeah, but I'm checking out the terrain and the history of the land there. Are there advantages for the vampires by setting up a liar there? Has there been a family set up there before? Are there notorious vampires that live in the area that might have set up that family of vampires? Etcetera, Etcetera. I need to make preparations."

"I see…" Sakura was impressed by Shikamaru's train of thought. She had always seen him sleeping whenever she was doing a case study, so she had assumed that he was a lazy slayer, but it seemed that even Shikamaru had a diligent side.

"Pfft." Kotetsu interjected. "He just got bored since Izumo and I lost like 10 chess games against him. I guess the saying 'two heads are better than one' doesn't work against Shika-senpai. OUCH!" Izumo had taken Kotetsu's distracted state to his advantage and had slammed Kotetsu's arm against the table.

"I win." Izumo chuckled triumphantly.

"Damn!" Kotetsu glared at Izumo.

Sakura giggled. "Where's Sai-san?"

"Other side of the library." Shikamaru answered as he slammed a pile of books onto a nearby table and prepared himself for a lot of note taking.

Sakura pranced over to the other side of the library and found Sai sitting by an easel in the corner of the room. The sun's rays beamed on him as if he were an angel sent from the heavens. Sakura walked over to where Sai sat and peeked at the canvas that he was painting on.

"Morning, Sakura-hime." Sai greeted her as he placed his paintbrush onto a pallet.

"It's the afternoon, Sai- san. And don't call me a princess, please." Sakura pouted playfully.

"Sorry, but is that how you greet a comrade?" Sai attempted to strike a conversation.

Sakura giggled. "Good afternoon, Sai-san."

"Afternoon to you too." Sai paused for a moment. "Drop the "-san", just call me "Sai"."

Sakura chuckled. "Alright, Sai"

Sakura suddenly noticed a funny-looking book that was poorly hidden under a pile of completed canvases. The female slayer picked up the book and read the title: How to interact with people. She laughed out loud.

Sakura raised a quizzical eyebrow as she turned around to Sai. "Why are you reading this?"

Sai's face was hard to read.

"I'm bad with interaction amongst others… I usually just communicate with my father.."

Sakura replaced the book back to where she found it and began analyzing the finished canvases. Most of the paintings were abstract. There were also a few paintings of nature, but there was one painting that seemed to leap right at her and bite her on the nose. It was a portrait of Kakashi, her boss. Sakura looked up at Sai.

"A portrait of Kakashi-san?"

"Yeah, father wanted me to paint a portrait of him… I just finished it this morning, so the paint might still be wet…"

"Father?!" Sakura exclaimed in confusion.

"… adoptive father…" Sai carefully correct Sakura.

"Oh… er… may I ask since when?" Sakura felt a sudden shift in atmosphere.

"Since I was 6 months old…" Sai stared blankly at his canvases.

"Do you have any recollections of your biological parents?"

"Not particularly…"

There was a moment of awkward silence. Sai was sitting on his stool staring at his blank canvas. Sakura was staring at Sai, lost in some distant thought.

"You're an amazing artist." Sakura stated, breaking the ice.

"Father said that my talent was inherent…"

"It's still amazing!" Sakura smiled. Sai looked up at Sakura.

"Would you want a portrait of yourself?"

"Of me?!"

"Yeah… I can do a portrait of you if you want… to pass the time…"

"Sure!... Where should I sit?"

"There is fine. The sunlight gives you a pretty glow." Sai moved his easel and stool in front of Sakura and picked up his paint brush. Deciding to start his painting from Sakura's emerald eyes, Sai blended the green paint with a tint of blue. Sai looked up at Sakura who was blushing uncontrollably.

Sai smiled. Closing his eyes carefully, Sai pictured Sakura in his mind and let his paintbrush guide his hand towards the canvas, but just when the brush came into contact with the canvas, a jolting surge shot through Sai's spine causing his mind to throb. Unintentionally, Sai had punctured the canvas with his paintbrush, letting all the emerald paint smear over the page.

"AHH!" The migraine was relentless as Sai grabbed his head in reaction to the excruciating pain. His head was throbbing, causing him to feel pain like no other. Needles were shooting up his spine and a fire was building up inside of him. Without looking at Sakura, Sai bursted out of the room, running past his bewildered comrades who could only stare in confusion.

"What's going on?" Shikamaru questioned Sakura as he attempted to fill in the blanks for the situation.

Sakura's eyes were wide as she attempted to formulate a sentence to respond to Shikamaru's question to the abrupt leave of Sai.

"I… He… He wanted to paint a portrait of me and… suddenly he started screaming while holding onto his head…" Sakura felt hopeless. Shikamaru burst out of the room to check upon Sai as Sakura turned her attention to Sai's ruptured canvas. The green paint had oozed on the canvas' surface, as if some evil had finally burst out from within an innocent facade.

Sai had ran into his hotel room and headed straight to his bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He felt as if his whole body was on fire… and the migraine… Sai smashed his head against the sink as he turned on the water, as if attempting to drown himself.

"It's starting…" Sai thought. "…the transformation… the mutation…"

From the back of his head he heard them. Yes, the voices.

"You can't escape your fate, Sai. You were made to be one of us. Your DNA has always said you were one of us. Don't be a rebel… join us." The voice echoed in his mind.

Sai's head was now fully immersed in the sink water.

"I'd rather die than join forces with the likes of you." Sai lashed back at the monstrous voice in his head.

"Heheh.. You never had a choice…" The voice replied. "Why deny fate? You should embrace it. Our life has more meaning than the mortal lives of humans."

"I'll drown myself before it's complete!"

"Ah… but you don't realize that the transformation is almost complete…"

"What?!"

"The trigger…" The voice spoke with an ominous echo.

"The trigger…" Sai repeated, lost in translation. Suddenly, Sai felt his head being pulled from the sink.

"What's going on?!" Sai heard someone exclaim, but he was unable to identify the voice, albeit sounding so familiar.

"Call… father… Kakashi…" Sai heard himself say before slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

Neji sat himself onto his couch. He had grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and had sketched the football playing field. He was attempting to recall the playing tactics of Team China, yet nothing seemed to be coming back.

Unexpectedly, he heard some tape being ripped from his apartment door. Neji's body became tense. It didn't sound like Tenten, as the person ripping off the tape was being extremely careful. Tenten had taped the door of Neji's apartment from the outside to ensure that Neji wouldn't step outside the house. Not that he would have anyway, but if he did try to leave his apartment via the door, the tape would be ripped off and Tenten would know.

Neji sat on his couch wearily. What if it was some stupid human thief attempting to break into his apartment thinking that it would be easy to steal stuff from Neji's house? The Hyuuga bit his lip in anxiety. He wasn't sure if he would be able to control his hunger for human blood from anyone besides Tenten or Hinata yet. Time ticked by slowly as Neji waited for the person on the other side of the door to finish picking the tape off the door.

The door suddenly flew open, revealing a young woman dressed in a dainty dress and a translucent scarf that was draped over her head. The girl smiled as she saw Neji and closed the door behind her.

"Nice curtains Neji. Blocks out the sun perfectly." The woman commented as she removed her sunglasses from her eyes, revealing violet pupils.

"Ino!" Neji exclaimed as he realized who the intruder was. Neji relaxed. Since Ino was a fellow vampire, there was no need to be worried of a possible death in his apartment.

Ino smiled. "I came by to visit you. Wasn't sure if you would be able to survive a whole week by yourself."

"B-but…" Neji stuttered in surprise. Hinata's habits were starting to take effect on Neji. "It's the afternoon! How did you get here?!"

"Vampires can move around during the day. We just say that we can't so as to keep the peace between us and the werewolves. To walk during the day, we just need sunglasses in order to block the sun's UV rays. The sun can cause vampires to become blind, etc. Did you not notice that you can't actually fall asleep during the day?"

Neji nodded.

"Vampires don't sleep. Genma and I just lock up your coffins to ensure that you are all "sleeping" and not wandering during the day. Only Sasuke-sama's generals are permitted to be out and about while the sun is up. Anyways, why is there holy water splashed on your apartment door? What are you, masochistic?"

"My girlfriend did it, to make sure that I don't run out the door and burn in the sun. For my protection, and the humans'."

Ino raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Human girlfriend?"

"Yeah." Neji replied uncertainly. The Hyuuga wasn't sure how Ino would react. After all, in the minds of vampires, humans live only to sustain vampires. Ino was his best friend at the Vampire Academy. Even though Neji was new for being a vampire, Ino had befriended him. The blonde female vampire was one of Lord Sasuke's top generals. As a high-classed vampire, it was quite unusual that Ino would befriend someone from a lower class.

Ino laughed. "Now I see the potential that Sasuke-sama was speaking of!"

"What do you mean?' Neji asked curiously.

"Most new vampires aren't able to control their thirst until at least one year. They have to be trained to control their appetites at the Vampire Academy, but you happen to already have that ability…" Ino was very impressed by Neji's capabilities.

"So, how do you feel having a human girlfriend? Does she understand your situation?'

Neji shrugged. "She brings a blood packet every night for me to feed on… I guess you can say she understands…"

Ino chuckled. "You're just surprised how easily she can adapt to your situation while you are still in dismay?"

Neji's eyes widened. "How did you know that?"

Ino tapped her temple lightly with her index finger. "I can mind read, did you forget?"

Neji shook his head. "How could I forget?"

---**Flashback**---

Neji was mindlessly exploring the halls of the Uchiha Fortress. It had been three days since the Hyuuga had been transformed into a vampire, and he still felt out of place and inferior. He had no desire to become a vampire or perfect his vampire skills as he felt that they were barbaric. Most of his classmates at the Vampire Academy had accepted the fact that they were now vampires, but Neji just could not accept that fate. The Hyuuga yearned for his human life. It was a foolish hunger as it was impossible for a vampire to become human again. The transformation was irreversible.

The Hyuuga inadvertently walked out into one of the many outdoor courtyards. It was a full moon and the moonlight shone down from the heavens. The crisp cool breeze uplifted the Hyuuga's long raven hair as he heard the trickling of water from a nearby fountain. The courtyard was picturesque and empty, save for the lavender-eyed vampire.

Neji walked over to a nearby koi pond and looked into its crystal clear depths where small koi fish swam peacefully. It caused the Hyuuga to laugh softly at the humorously peaceful fish, but the subtle realization of his new self clouded Neji's thoughts once again as he saw no reflection of himself in the pond.

His state of existence had changed. He no longer was human. He was a predator of his own friends. He had become a bloodthirsty fiend – preying upon the living to sustain him. He was a barbaric vampire and he was ashamed.

Neji placed his face in his hands and felt his cold breath on his skin. There was no need for him to breathe, but he felt that it would be odd not to "breathe". As the Hyuuga's depressing thoughts raced through his mind, a blonde female vampire entered the courtyard and walked towards Neji.

"Good evening, Neji-kun." The female vampire greeted Neji as she stood behind the Hyuuga, patiently waiting for the Hyuuga to react.

Neji slowly lifted his head to see who was disturbing his personal thoughts. The pearl-eyed Hyuuga came face-to-face with the blonde female vampire who had blazing sapphire eyes. The female was evidently from the higher class as she held her composure with a regal air. A dark velvet cape rippled around her and on the female's cape was the crest of the generals of the Uchiha army. The crest contained two bloodied swords crossed beneath the Uchiha symbol of a red and white paper fan. The generals of the Uchiha army wore the crest as a brooch for their capes, but it was also embroidered on the cape itself. It was a symbol of their loyalty and strength. Complying to the vampire rules, Neji bowed towards the female general out of respect.

The general laughed. "There's no need for formalities. My name is Ino. Yamanaka Ino."

"Welcome Yamanaka-dono."

The blonde vampire sighed as she sat herself by the koi pond. "Come sit beside me, Neji-kun."

Neji remained in his kneeling position.

"Don't worry, I'm not stalking you. Sasuke-sama told me a lot about you. That's the main reason why I know your name. Now come sit by my side. We have some issues to discuss…"

Neji reluctantly sat beside Ino as he pondered on what issues he had to discuss with an Uchiha general. Surely, Neji had not done anything to leave a negative impression on his authorities…

"I read that you feel inferior in your environment…" Ino began speaking with her eyes closed in fierce concentration. "You are confused… lost in translation… frustrated…" Suddenly Ino broke out laughing. "And surprised that I can read your mind." Ino's sapphire eyes stared deep into Neji's pearl white ones.

A mischievous smile played across Ino's face. "And now you're wondering how I know all this? Has not Genma-san taught you about vampire capabilities? No?" Ino shook her head gravely. "Then I guess I will have to give you a 3-minute crash course."

Ino stood up from her seated position and began pacing back and forth.

"You see, us vampires tend to be a very picky bunch. When selecting our newcomers for a specific vampire family, we analyze the candidates. We test them in almost every aspect possible, and then welcome them into our life if they pass. You might ask what aspects we like to examine, but there is no real set ability preferred. As long as they're unique, we take them. So you might say that we like prodigies. Take me, for example. Personally, I never saw myself as a prodigy, but Sasuke-sama saw my potential in becoming a mind reader, and so selected me to become a vampire."

"And how would one be able to tell what ability one will gain when the human candidate becomes a vampire?' Neji questioned Ino as he pondered about what his ability might be, if he had one.

"As I said, Sasuke-sama saw the **potential **of me being a mind reader. That is to say that in my human life, I was very aware of my friends' feelings and sometimes even their exact thoughts. When a human becomes a vampire, their most prominent ability is enhanced by tenfold. So my awareness of my friends' feelings was heightened to the extent of literally 'reading their mind'."

"Are there any limits to your mind reading?' Neji asked in order to continue the conversation. The Hyuuga wanted to try and piece out what his most prominent ability was.

"Not really." Ino laughed. "But that question isn't really significant now, is it? You're just trying to buy time."

Neji didn't say anything as his face was a façade of indifference. In Neji's mind, he was cursing himself for forgetting that Ino was a mind reader.

"Well, I'll let you continue your internal strife. I'm pretty sure that you do have an enhanced quality that you just haven't discovered yet. After all, Sasuke-sama would not have welcomed you into our vampire life had he not believed you to have possessed something significant." Ino's voice suddenly began fading away.

Neji spun around expecting to see a smug smirk on the blonde Uchiha Generals' face, but Ino was no longer sitting beside him. In Ino's place was a small message written in dust:

'Time will tell.'

Neji sighed as he decided to forget about the vampire enhanced abilities and focus on adapting to his new life. After all, he saw that there was no possible way of becoming human again.

From a distance Neji heard a female chuckle in self-satisfaction. Ino had completed her mission.

---**End Flashback**---

"So have you discovered your enhanced ability yet?" Ino asked politely.

Neji shook his head. "No… but out of sheer curiosity, why are your eyes amethyst-looking instead of the usual sapphire hue?"

Ino smiled wryly. "I didn't feed enough last night. I had not realized that walking around during the day might take so much energy."

Neji nodded in agreement as he turned his attention back to his football field outlines. Ino followed Neji's attention to his map and blinked in surprise.

"A map of a football field? What is that for?"

"I'm the team captain of the Japanese Football Team. My team has a match tomorrow so I need to figure out a game plan." Neji replied simply as he twirled his pencil on his thumb, eyes glued to his map.

"REALLY! No wonder Sasuke decided to make you one of us!" Ino exclaimed.

"How would my football talent make me a good candidate for a vampire bite?" Neji asked bluntly.

Ino smiled. "Sasuke-sama is a HUGE fan of football and of course, he roots for Team Japan. He must have been really impressed by your skills."

Neji grimaced. The Hyuuga's goals had always aimed for perfection and now he found out that his desire for perfection had led to his demise. How ironic.

"I have one problem though…" The pearl-eyed perfectionist spoke in a low and nonchalant tone as his eyes became level with those of Ino who sat patiently on a comfort chair by the other side of the coffee table where his football plans were laid out.

"I am relieved that the match is to be held in the evening; however I do recall the Association of Supernatural Slayers dispatches a few of their squadrons to sports games. Do you, by any chance, know of a way to bypass the A.S.S. obstacle?"

Ino closed her eyes in pensive thought, attempting to recall if her Lord had ever watched a football game LIVE at the field, and if he did, how he slipped by the security. A light bulb was suddenly lit.

"Sasuke-sama did watch a live football match once! I think it was at the Tokyo Stadium…" Ino smiled as her eyes flashed open, a predatory smirk danced on her face as she gave Neji the solution to his problem.

"It's quite simple actually. You have two options. A, kill them. Just don't forget to unwire those cameras. B, which is the harder option, is to pretend to be human. I suggest that you take an extremely hot bath. At least 90 degrees Celsius, otherwise it won't work. When you get to the football stadium, use your innate seduction skills to dazzle the slayers and when the opportunity arises, slip through the loophole. Option B is more complicated and more risky in my opinion. I personally would opt for option A. It's more effective, but seeing that you're Team Captain for Japan, you might be a bit too conspicuous."

There was a dramatic pause before Ino resumed her speech.

"The choice is yours."

She bent closer towards Neji as her last words left an ominous atmosphere hang above their heads in the air.

Neji's calculative mind began piecing out the small tidbits of information that he had been given. Which option was better? A or B? On an ethical level, he would choose B because he did not want to kill, even though he was a vampire. On the other hand, option B demanded Neji to push his limits. The Hyuuga was uncertain if he was able to dazzle a human without imagining them to be his next meal.

Before Neji could even make a choice, Ino jumped out from her seat and began heading towards the door.

"Sorry, I have to go." Ino spoke apologetically.

"Huh? Why?" Neji questioned in an uncharacteristic manner.

"Your girlfriend is almost home." Ino replied as she fixed her sunglasses onto her face to ensure that the sun's rays would not blind her.

"How do you know?"

Ino tapped her temple again. "Enhanced abilities, remember? I hear a girl ranting about her boyfriend's football match, and the boyfriend happens to be named Neji."

"Oh…" Neji returned his attention back to his football plans.

"I'll see you in a few days, I guess?"

Ino smiled. "Yup. I expect you'll be back at the academy in about a week's time."

"Maybe." Neji replied. "Depends if my girlfriend lets me."

"Come on, you're not going to let a human girl boss you around." Ino teased.

"Well, this human girl has her ways of controlling my life." Neji smiled as his mind began to drift away from reality at the thought of Tenten.

"Plus, I don't really want to go back to the Academy."

Ino rolled her eyes. 'Whatever. Anyways, I have to go. Good luck in your match! Sasuke-sama will be watching." With these as her parting words, she left in a flash, as if she were never in the room.

A few moments later, Neji could hear the sound of tape being ripped off the door of his apartment. Tenten was home and it was time to tell her his finalized game plan.

* * *

The glorious sunlight shone down upon the mortals on the earth. A warm and comforting light reminded humans about the beauty of nature, and permitted the mortals to temporarily forget about the dangerous creatures that lurked during the night.

A young blonde woman wearing a scarf draped around her head and neck walked in an inconsistent manner. It appeared as if the sun and fatigue was the cause of her dizziness. Many offered to help the young lady and asked if she was lost, but the woman did not reply. She wanted to be left alone, but her innate beauty would not permit the humans to not be attracted to her and yearn to help a woman who appeared as a damsel in distress.

"I should have fed until I was bloated." The woman's regrets hammered in her head as she felt her sanity losing its grip on her animalistic lust for blood. There were too many humans… potential prey… yearning to be her next victim… The ambrosial taste of blood filled her mind… perhaps she could take one human… a vagabond… one that would not be noticed by the general human population… one victim to satisfy her thirst… just one… it would not disrupt the vampire-werewolf treaty now, would it? … No… it wouldn't…

An insane smile formed on the lips of the bloodthirsty female vampire as she morphed into her hunting form. Ino collapsed on the floor, a low moan of pain could be heard, but before any human could rush to Ino's aid, a pale-faced man with a pair of dark sunglasses appeared at her side, clutching her tightly as he concealed Ino's fangs with his strong hand.

"Chidori, how many times have I told you that I would do the groceries?" The man spoke in an irritated tone as he covered Ino's mouth with her scarf as he carefully draped her right arm across his shoulder and placed his left arm around her waist in order to steady the blonde vampire. The man readjusted Ino's sunglasses to ensure that they were placed properly on Ino's eyes, as her eyes had changed into a crimson hue as a result of her strong desire for blood. The man apologized to the crowd of humans as he quickly sped off into a dark alley. No human could move from their position for a moment as they were all dazzled by the man's presence.

* * *

Ino was brought into a dark alley and carefully placed on the damp and cold floor. The man threw a blood packet at the female vampire as he watched the blonde woman drink greedily out of the packet. Ino threw the blood packet onto the floor when she finished it. The red hue in her iris had diminished slightly. Her eyes lit up in surprise as she recognized who her saviour was.

"Arigatou, Shino-san." Ino thanked her saviour.

"Hmph." Shino gave Ino a disapproving look. "You almost broke the vampire-werewolf treaty. I felt it. Your hunger had reached its limit."

Ino bit her lip uncomfortably as she tried to conjure up an excuse for her ignorance.

"You snaked out, didn't you?" Shino pressed on.

"NO! I'm a Uchiha General as well, and have every right to walk out during the day!" Ino protested.

"Your tenacity will cause your demise someday, Ino-san. Had you gained permission to walk out during the day, perhaps you would have been informed about feeding habits. You would have been informed that vampires need to feed more in order to walk during the day. Plus, Sasuke-sama would not deny you access to walk about during the day, after all, you are a Uchiha General." Shino's words were blunt and straight to the point as always, as he underlined and reused the same fact Ino had attempted to protect herself with.

Ino sighed as she steadied herself against a wall. "Oh well, what's past is past. You're my hero, so can you lighten up before you spoil your heroic image in my mind?"

"Hmph." Shino's reply was dull as he unexpectedly offered Ino his hand. "And now you're planning to walk back to the fortress in your weakened state. I highly doubt that would be pragmatic."

Ino glared at the Uchiha advisor. 'What am I supposed to do, let you carry me back?"

"It's the most efficient and safest option." Shino's voice was monotone as he spoke. There was no hint of victory or defeat in his voice.

"Of course, you could decide to walk back yourself, fight your uncontrollable hunger and be ever so cautious of slayers on the way back to the fortress. You do recall that the werewolf slayers are out now, right?" Shino was becoming more forceful.

Ino reluctantly admitted defeat. "Fine! Carry me! But this is a humiliation to my reputation."

"Do you think I would bother telling anyone?" Shino's deep voice had an omniscient aura in it, as if he knew things that others didn't.

"True." Ino replied in relief. "Wait! How are you going to carry me back?"

"You have two choices. A, piggy-back, or B, bridal style. However, seeing as you are wearing a sundress, it's not much of a choice. The first would not be prudent due to your attire."

There was oddly no hint of humor in his voice.

Ino pouted as she felt that he had a point.

Just as Ino was about to comment on Shino's observation, the female vampire felt her body being lifted into the air and into a pair of strong arms. There was a momentary pause before she felt the warm afternoon breeze brush by her cold ivory skin.

"What's with the sudden rush?" Ino asked.

"Werewolves." Shino replied simply as he dashed through the alleys of the Japanese cities and out into the wilderness where the Uchiha fortress was situated.

"Oh…" Ino's voice trailed off into the wind. Werewolves would have loved to ambush and kill an Uchiha General. Ino felt relieved that Shino had offered to carry her back to the fortress. In her weakened state, she wasn't too sure if she could take on werewolf pups, let alone werewolf slayers.

"Make sure your sunglasses stay on." Shino growled as he sped through the countryside to reach HQ.

"Hai!" Ino replied politely as she held her sunglasses in place. It actually didn't feel too bad to be carried by Shino. The female vampire giggled to herself.

"Don't get too comfortable." The Uchiha advisor warned. The fortress was only a few kilometers away from the two generals and Shino felt that Ino was enjoying herself too much, making him feel a bit uncomfortable.

Finally, the two Uchiha generals reached the doors of the fortress where two guards appeared, quite surprised that two high-ranking generals had appeared together at the doors of the Fortress, and the fact that Shino, the stoic Uchiha advisor, was carrying Ino in his arms, bridal style. Shino carefully placed Ino back onto her feet as he turned his attention to the two guards, stoic façade in place.

"Prepare a decent meal for Ino-san. She will be on the verge of annihilating a human city if she doesn't feed soon." Shino's voice sent a chill down the two guards' spines.

"Hai, Shino-dono!" The guards replied in unison.

"Good. I guess I can leave now?" Shino asked his fellow general.

A coy smile played on Ino's face. "It would be nice if you could stay."

"Meaning that I can leave. Good day." Shino spun around and marched towards the dense forest once again, heading back to the human city.

"Matte!" Ino exclaimed. "Wait!"

Shino turned around. "Hmm?"

"I said that it would be nice if you could stay. I was wondering if you would have breakfast with me." Ino purred. The female general wanted to learn more about Shino. Even though she had been a colleague of Shino for almost half a century, she never bothered learning much about him, but now his enigmatic behaviour intrigued her. The only fact she knew about Shino was that he had been the advisor for the previous Uchiha clan leader, Uchiha Itachi, and that his intuition was virtually irreplaceable, the reason why Aburame Shino was the most respected advisor known in vampire history.

"It would be an honour to have breakfast with you, Ino-san, however I must kindly decline your invitation as I still have a mission to complete." There was no hint of emotion in his voice causing Ino to be disappointed. Almost every being she had spoken to reacted in the some manner! Even if they had no physical reaction, there should be some kind of remark that would be ringing in their mind, but no, Aburame Shino's mind said nothing. As Shino disappeared into the forest from whence they came, Ino realized that she had never been able to access Shino's mind. She did not recall ever having read Shino's mind. Could it be possible that some beings can negate the skills of others?

The two fortress guards stood uncomfortably behind Ino, unsure if they should disturb the female general from her thoughts. Suddenly Ino spun around, a look of irritation was plastered on her face.

"What are you two looking at? I better see a human at my chambers by the time I get there or else I will be having you two for brunch!" The blonde general's voice was menacing as her ultimatum was uttered.

"H-hai! Ino-dono!" The two guards grabbed their walkie-talkies and placed Ino's orders.

The female general stepped into the Uchiha fortress, still mystified by the enigma that was Shino. She did not understand why she had this sudden interest in the Uchiha advisor, but she was determined to find out. Deciding to visit the fortress' library before heading to her chambers, Ino walked through the empty fortress halls in a daze.

* * *

The bright lamplights shone down upon the football field. It was 7:00pm. The sun had set and Neji and Tenten had surrounded the field with vampire-werewolf protection charms. The judo master and her boyfriend were completing work-out stretches.

Neji yawned. "So, when is my special training going to start?"

"Just wait! I haven't completed all of my calf stretches yet." Tenten pouted as she performed her final calf stretch. "OK, I'm done."

The brunette turned her attention towards her boyfriend.

"Today's special training is pacing your walking and running!" Tenten announced triumphantly with her hands on her hips.

"Ah, hence the unneeded stretches, eh?" Neji commented in a teasing mood.

Tenten rolled her chocolate-brown eyes in playful annoyance. "Get ready to run at my speed!" exclaimed Tenten as she prepared herself for a sprint to the other side of the field.

"Roger that!" Neji saluted his girlfriend.

"3… 2… 1…Go!" Tenten began sprinting across the field, but did not even make 3 metres before she realized that Neji was already on the other side of the field.

A smug smirk was playing on Neji's face.

"If you want to beat me in a race, you have to pick up the pace, Tenten."

Tenten glared at her ostentatious vampire boyfriend. "The point of this training is not 'beat-Tenten-in-a-race', but 'keep-up-with-Tenten's-pace'."

"Oh…" In less than a second, Neji was by the brunette's side.

"So will you let me try again?"

"Well, we need to slow you down to human speed. After all, we don't want the Captain of Team Japan zooming up and down the field and raising a few questions on how he obtained that speed, now do we?" Tenten lectured.

"I guess I see your point…" Neji nodded in agreement. His sly smile irritated the brunette ever so slightly as if taunting her.

"So let's head back to the other side of the field." Said Tenten as she placed her whistle onto her pursed lips, but before she could start the training, the brunette was suddenly thrown into a pair of cold ivory arms and carried straight across the field and placed back onto her feet. All this happened in less than a second.

"Neji?!" Tenten exclaimed, annoyed by the fact that the Hyuuga had carried her without permission and the fact that he had used his vampire-like speed to carry her back.

"I was saving time." Neji chuckled as he flexed his arms. "Can we start now?"

Tenten glared at Team Japan's most valuable player before she reluctantly began her training regime… once again.

"Ready! 3…2…1…Go!"

At once Tenten began to jog and run at one minute intervals as Neji attempted to adapt to this human pace. The training continued for one hour.

---Later---

"Does everyone understand the plan?" Neji's eyes carefully analyzed his teammates with fierce contempt. Tenten's special training regime had helped the Hyuuga exceptionally well. The Hyuuga was able to maintain a human composure as he sped back and forth on the field along with his teammates; however, he was still slightly faster than them. Being the star player, he had to be the cream of the crop.

"You really have jumped back from your bug attack. It was as though you were never sick! Are you sure you weren't training for the past two weeks?" Lee commented.

"Tenten and I went through a few drills before you guys arrived." The Hyuuga replied calmly, proud by the fact that he had been able to keep a human composure the whole night. Surprisingly enough, Neji didn't feel hungry at all. The Hyuuga could smell the sweet taste of his teammates' blood, but his self-control prevented Neji from reverting to his vampire-like feeding instincts. Perhaps Tenten was correct, the Hyuuga did love challenges, and his self-control was stronger than his innate instincts.

Gai gave his watch a quick glance and realized that it was 11:30 pm already. "That's enough practice today. As much as I would love to stretch your potential, I believe that sleep will rejuvenate us all and will be the key to our success tomorrow night! I hereby declare this practice session adjourned. Get some good sleep troops, and feel the power of your youth flow through your veins!" Gai punched his fist into the air. "Team Japan shall be victorious!"

The rest of the team cheered along. Their passion was contagious, and caused even Neji to smile a genuine smile.

"Yes, Team Japan will win."

* * *

Tenten and Neji were walking back to the Hyuuga's apartment. Tenten had decided to sleep over, or it was more like Neji didn't want Tenten walking home by herself. Either way, Tenten was staying at the Hyuuga Neji's exclusive residence.

"Team Japan is so going to win." Tenten spoke proudly. "Team China has no chance!"

"Hn…" Neji didn't reply verbally, but the small smirk playing across his face spoke his reply.

"Well, if you survive tomorrow, perhaps we can go out for dinner with Sakura-chan! Her mission finishes tomorrow as well." Tenten exclaimed excitedly.

"Sounds good." Neji was a bit distracted though, not by a hunger for blood, but the feeling of someone following them…

The Hyuuga swore he heard an unnatural rustling of trees as if someone were watching them from above. There was also a disgustingly pungent smell of dog. The smell made the Hyuuga want to throw up. Carefully, Neji closed his eyes to listen to his surroundings more intently.

Step. Step. Rustle. Rustle. Growl.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Tenten stopped in her tracks to glare at her boyfriend who appeared to be zoned out like a zombie.

Suddenly, Neji placed his right arm around Tenten's waist and pulled her body straight against his while placing his left hand over her naked neck.

With unmoving lips. Neji spoke in a dangerously hushed tone," We're being followed."

Tenten's body stiffened in fear. Was it a vampire slayer? Another vampire? Or…

Unexpectedly, something big had jumped out of a nearby tree in front of the star-crossed couple.

"A mongrel..." Neji hissed under his breath. "That explains the smell."

"Sorry to disappoint you, vampire pup, but I'm not a mongrel. I'm a full-bred werewolf. Ever heard of a werewolf, vamp-boy?"

Neji growled. This startled Tenten as she was not used to Neji being angry. The Hyuuga was either stoic or sarcastic, but never angry. Tenten returned her attention to the self-proclaimed "werewolf".

"And I assume that you're the Uchiha's new toy, eh?"

The werewolf cackled. His canine-like eyes gleamed in the moonlight.

"Toy?" Neji's tone was menacing.

"Yeah, aren't you one of his supposed 'generals'?"

"I don't know much about werewolves," Neji spoke slowly before uttering his ultimatum. "But if I were you, I would leave now. I don't care if you're a mouse, a bird, a mummy or a filthy dog with rabies, just leave! Or else you'll have hell knocking on your door."

"Now really?" The werewolf spoke with sarcasm entangled in ever letter of his words. "But if I were you, I would be afraid. You see, my name is Kiba. Inuzuka Kiba, Prince of the Werewolf clan, second in line to the throne."

A silence engulfed the three beings as the moonlight shone on the figure of the Prince of the Werewolves. He had rust-brown hair that brushed against his cheekbones and on his face were red triangles painted on his cheeks.

His muscular stature was much bulkier than that of Neji's. A taunting smile formed on the lips of the werewolf prince as he threw Neji's words back at him.

"Are you afraid now, vamp-pup?"

---End Chapter---

A/N: KYAAAAA! I love the ending! Sorry, I had to make some kind of cliffie. But, wow, this chapter sure was long. 20 pages! Just a reminder for all those North American readers, football is soccer.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. **Reviews are highly appreciated**. Comment on my writing style. The plot. The characters. Anything. For some odd reason I feel that Neji is a bit OOC. What do you guys say? And I apologize for all those readers who were anticipating a Sasuke appearance. I just couldn't fit him in… or else I think I would be hitting 40 pages for this chapter. Lot's of stuff happened this chapter, so I once again put up my 'hiatus' flag. I'll be back in June '08. Check out my other fanfiction! I'll probably be updating High School Rumble or Battle of the Ages next. As well, anticipate a YugaoXKakashi story. I have a plot playing in my mind. I just need to put my thoughts to paper. Haha.

Until my next update!

_The Demonic Ninjas 3_

Thank you all for reading Vampire On A Leash!


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